There’s a lot at stake in a high-value divorce: multiple homes, various real estate ventures, expensive personal property, family heirlooms, a hefty and often complicated investments portfolio, business partnerships, and maybe even companies, such as a family business.
As a solid piece of advice for any high-value marriage about to see its end, you need to watch out for sudden and extravagant spending behavior. We’ve seen it happen and always caution the high-value spouse to be on the lookout for unusual spending.
A wife can find herself noticing her husband is suddenly spending more than he ever has before. He may take on unnecessary expenses, make hasty investments or big-ticket purchases, buying luxury items beyond his prior spending habits and the marital lifestyle previously maintained over the years. There can be a number of motivators—calculated or not—for such behavior, but there’s no easy answer as to the common, yet misguided reasons for such abusive spending.
Aiming to Increase One’s Spousal Support
Sometimes there’s a belief that spending more money in the last days of the marriage and just before separation will artificially increase the measured marital lifestyle. This is done while hoping that greater spousal support will be awarded during separation and after a divorce is finalized. This manipulative trick doesn’t typically pan out in the spree-spending spouse’s favor.
Mine, Mine, and Mine
Some spouses may take on hoarding behavior, trying to buy up whatever they can while they think they have the chance, believing that buying luxury items will amount to their getting to keep such items. More often than not, this trick also fails to work for the hoarding spouse.
Fearing an Unfair Divorce Settlement
There may be an insecurity that the high-net-worth spouse will lie about income, assets, and investment values during the divorce, to deprive the disadvantaged, lower-value spouse of the marital lifestyle to which she has become accustomed.
Take the Proper Steps to Curb Unnecessary Spending
If you think you’re about to embark on a high-net-worth divorce, you’ll want to keep your debts in check and be able to budget for unavoidable divorce expenses. There are reasonable yet swift actions you can take to reduce wasteful pre-divorce spending with the help of proper legal counsel.
The legal team at the Law Offices of Paul H. Nathan has helped many women get through the difficult time you’re about to face. Contact us today to find out what we can do for you.