I don’t know many people who get married to get divorced. (Well maybe a few)
On the subject of 'High Net Worth Divorces' today you've probably noticed they can get ugly, embarrassing and downright nasty.
Nationally Acclaimed Divorce Financial Expert Lili Vasileff will tell you, that being in the public eye with a messy divorce endangers sustainability of any potential agreement, threatens well-being of family, and eats up your resources.
Unless of course you're 'high net worth divorcee' Mackenzie Scott, former wife of Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos, now worth 57 Billion dollars and giving away money. She just gave $2.7 billion to 286 organizations around the U.S. By Forbes’ estimate, she gave away nearly $6 billion in 2020 to 500 organizations. She's also signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give away half of her fortune to charitable causes during her lifetime, or after her death. For this MacKenzie Scott gets a huge high five!
Low Fives ( is there such a thing?) are going out to other loud 'high net worth' divorce stories in the news this week. These divorce stories are ugly, embarrassing and down right nasty. The kind of divorces that involve insane amounts of money that people can't stop reading about. The kind of divorces most wealthy people try and avoid like...Covid.
Divorce Financial Expert Lili Vasileff says, "These nasty high conflict divorces are thankfully the aberration not the normal standard. What draws people to them is them is the dollars that flash across the screen. After 30 years of handling thousands of divorce cases of high net worth individuals I can tell you that they are ‘managed' successfully with discretion, integrity and privacy."
"You will never see the divorce that I’m working on hit the tabloids like this one and why is it? Because someone leaked that info. They leaked it for their own personal agenda. This leaks of these stories are done by one of the parties inside who's vindictive - no question about it because they’re not getting justice for their emotions"
She went on to explain, "What makes high net worth divorce cases different is that there's a high risk of publicizing wealth and that means that you put your family in a very vulnerable position. Your kids are vulnerable because people are going to know much you’re worth, you’ve just exposed the contents of your home, all that kind of stuff and if you own businesses or collectibles. Is that anyones business but your own ?" "You really need a trustworthy advocate who is used to this environment as I am, who works with individuals with that sense of trust that all remains private to be negotiated until its concluded. "
She even works privately withclients before they start with an attorney. "When you file divorce it becomes public right ? There's a public filing any tabloid reporter can go find, the very basic motions the details, who the players are, etc. Seasoned divorce financial experts make sure everything is confidential. It never hits the court system until its over. And that's huge."
Lili says, "When your in a high net worth case you have a lot of complicated finances and chances are one party vs the other is less knowledgeable and doesn’t know it and doesn’t have the skills resources or access to those professionals that mange those kinds of valuable assets to become educated. So you need that whole 'step up' to understand whats at stake to get a roadmap of really of what your life looks like as a snapshot from a financial perspective .
Seeking out an attorney is not the first move you should make if your headed for a high net worth divorce. The first thing you should do is seek out a divorce financial expert.
"You're working with an attorney not an a financial expert, says Lili. So to understand what exists what it costs what is required to sustain those assets in the future or what could be transferable or liquidated now is like Wow! You just grabbed the gold ring of becoming empowered at a negotiation table."
She adds "Unless parties have been separated for a period of time, its very usual that one client is much more prepared to trigger the divorce button than the other. And the other, has you know a little more of that emotional gap to come up to speed to say, I guess this is the way it's gonna go. Because once the person files for divorce there is nothing your can do to stop it."
Though a gender friendly compassionate financial advocate, Lili shares most of the clients who seek out her advice are women. 90% women in fact. 'Late life divorce' she says is on the increase, and more often than not it's the women who are less knowledgable and have less experience managing assets for the longer term.
"Most divorces you got a one shot deal to get it right."
"You've got to know your stuff, she says. You've got to negotiate with a sense of confidence and knowledge to make fully informed good decisions because they last for the long term."