The director of Spider-Man, Sam Raimi, has recently announced his divorce from his wife, Gillian Greene, after 30 years together.
With Raimi’s net worth being estimated at $60mn (£47mn), their divorce settlement will likely see them having to grapple with the additional complexities that arise when high net worth individuals split.
While Raimi’s divorce proceedings are taking place in Los Angeles, and so will be governed by a different legal process, many of the issues that very wealthy couples divorcing in England and Wales have to consider and resolve are similar.
Although the same laws apply to any divorcing couple, from the extremely wealthy to those with very modest assets, the divorce proceedings of the affluent typically have a number of features and considerations that require expert assistance from the outset.
The division of assets
Fortunately for HNW individuals, the asset and income base will usually exceed the individual needs of either spouse, so the negotiations will focus on how to share the assets of the marriage equally and fairly.
Where the assets of the marriage exceed the needs of both spouses, there will be an expectation that non-matrimonial assets, such as inherited family wealth, gifts, or property owned by one of the parties before the marriage, will be excluded from the sharing process and kept separately by the person who received it.
Pre-nuptial (and post-nuptial) agreements are an increasingly common feature in cases involving high wealth values, particularly if the marriage is not the first for one of the spouses, or one of them is already very wealthy at the time of the marriage.
While marital agreements are not fully binding on the courts in England and Wales, they are likely to be upheld in a later divorce where it can be shown that the agreement is fair and meets the needs of both parties and their children, provided they both received independent legal advice, were not under any duress and shared full disclosure of their financial resource with each other before entering into the agreement.
Complex assets
HNW individuals tend to have their assets diversified widely, often held in complex financial structures, sometimes in a number of international locations such as holiday homes, offshore trusts and investments or overseas pensions.
Not only are these difficult to value and obtain documentation for, but care needs to also be taken over ensuring that any orders made about them by the court here could be enforced in the country where the asset lies.
In fact, it could be that there are cross jurisdictional issues, which mean the parties need to take very early advice on which country they should start the divorce proceedings in, or whether mirror orders are needed in another country to allow for future enforceability.
