Rochester Hills, a small city 25 miles north of downtown Detroit, is a great place to live and raise a family. Whether you enjoy catching some live music at the Meadow Brook Amphitheatre, picking up some produce at the Fresh Thyme Farmers’ Market, or taking a relaxing walk at the Avon Nature Study Area, you’ll find many fun things to do here.
It can be easy to lose sight of what this community has to offer when you’re going through a situation as stressful and complicated as a high-asset divorce. An experienced high-asset divorce lawyer like Eisenberg & Spilman, PLLC, can help you set the stress aside and get back to enjoying your life.
Eisenberg & Spilman, PLLC, is an all-female family law firm founded by Attorneys Laura E. Eisenberg and Amy M. Spilman. Attorneys Eisenberg and Spilman are also the Fellows of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, an association of the country’s most highly respected family lawyers. If you need help with your high-asset divorce, contact Eisenberg & Spilman, PLLC, today.
Filing for divorce in Rochester Hills, Michigan, is a relatively simple process if you don’t have a lot of assets to divide, but it’s a lot more complicated if you do. Michigan courts will determine which assets are marital assets and which are separate and attempt to divide all marital assets equitably.
Because fault or misconduct is a factor in how marital property is divided, accusations of abuse or adultery can have a significant impact on the results of a high-asset divorce case. Your station in life and earning ability are also matters that both sides might disagree on. To ensure that you are treated fairly, you need a family law attorney who will advocate for your rights with determination.
Are you sure you know exactly what assets you own as a couple? Do you know what those assets are worth? In some divorce cases, one spouse will attempt to hide the existence or true value of certain assets from the other spouse. That’s why the first step in a high-asset divorce is to identify what the couple owns.
In Michigan, any property acquired or earned by either spouse during the marriage is marital property, and any property acquired before the marriage is separate property. The court will divide marital property equitably between spouses, but separate property remains separate.
After your divorce lawyer has identified all marital property, the next step is asset valuation. It is not easy to accurately assess the value of some assets, so your lawyer will consult experts to determine the value of all assets correctly. Appraisers specializing in different types of assets may be asked to testify in court if there is any disagreement about the value of a particular asset. Disputes about the value of marital assets are one of the reasons high-asset divorces can be so complex and time-consuming.
Debt works the same way as property in a divorce. All debts incurred during the marriage are marital debt, and the court will divide them equitably between both parties. If a debt was incurred before the marriage, it is the debt of the person who incurred it.
The court will sometimes award both a property and its associated debts to the same spouse. It’s vital to ensure you fully understand which debts are associated with which properties before you agree to settle your divorce case.
A skilled, high-asset divorce lawyer serving Rochester Hills will know how to work toward equitable property division without imposing an inequitable tax burden on you. Hiring a lawyer familiar with high-asset divorces is vital to ensure that you don’t make a mistake and trigger a tax event that will reduce the value of your divorce settlement.
Under Michigan law, courts will grant child support “based on the needs of the child and the actual resources of each parent.” Of course, in a high-asset divorce case, the resources of each parent may be considerably greater than in a more typical divorce case. The Michigan Child Support Formula considers income, but some families have incomes much higher than the formula can account for. Children from high-asset families often have higher educational expenses and are accustomed to a lifestyle different from that of children from other families. For all these reasons, courts in Michigan will often grant deviations from the standard child support formula in high-asset divorce cases, requiring child support payments much higher than in a typical divorce.
Michigan courts do not award alimony in every divorce case.
The court can order either spouse to pay alimony or can pay it out of property sequestered by the court. The court will usually halt alimony payments if the spouse receives alimony remarries.
Because the court doesn’t award alimony in every case, it’s vital to have a lawyer to advocate for your interests. Whether you’re hoping to receive spousal support payments or to reduce or avoid the payments you might otherwise need to make in Rochester Hills, a skilled, high-asset divorce lawyer can help you make your case before the court.
A Rochester Hills high-asset divorce lawyer can answer all your questions about the divorce process in Michigan and take over stressful tasks like asset identification and valuation that you might not know how to do on your own.
Eisenberg & Spilman, PLLC, is an all-female family law firm founded by Fellows of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Amy M. Spilman handles child custody issues, while Laura E. Eisenberg works with business owners, doctors, and other high-asset clients to resolve their divorce as quickly and equitably as possible. Attorney Laura E. Eisenberg is a trained mediator with a reputation for being approachable and billing clients fairly.
Our approach to high-asset divorce cases is far from “one-size-fits-all.” Our dynamic team of family law attorneys can work collaboratively with any client. If you are going through a high-asset divorce in Rochester Hills, Michigan, contact Eisenberg & Spilman, PLLC, today.