High-asset divorce tends to be more complicated than divorce among couples with more modest assets. The complications are due, at least in part, to the logistics of dividing up significant wealth and property. But high-asset divorces also tend to be complicated because they are usually high-profile as well.
Business professionals and other well-known individuals often want to keep their divorce and child custody negotiations discreet, and for good reasons. Any personal accusations made by a spouse in court filings could potentially leak out and cause damage to a person’s business and his reputation – regardless of whether those accusations are true or false.
A recent case is an example. It involves the wife of an investment banker who filed court documents in divorce and child custody proceedings. In those documents, she alleges that her husband should not have custody of the children because he is the “ringleader” of a “drug cohort” of professionals in finance and corporate industry. In short, he allegedly parties hard with other VIPs and uses illegal drugs such as cocaine.
In the court filing, the man’s wife also names two well-known biotech CEOs as individuals who have partied and used illegal drugs with her husband. Regardless of whether or not these accusations are true, they could certainly cause damage to the careers and reputations of people who are in no way involved with the divorce. In response to the allegations, the stock prices of both biotech companies dipped before recovering those losses a couple days later.
Your divorce and child custody battle are private matters. In order to keep them out of the public eye, it’s important to ensure that they do not drag on unnecessarily. Therefore, you may wish to hire an attorney who can handle your case with professionalism and efficiency.
Source: CNBC, “Nasty Wall St. divorce battle ensnares biotech CEOs,” Lawrence Delevingne, Oct. 28, 2014
