Irvine High Asset Divorce Attorneys

For wealthy individuals, the divorce process presents some unique challenges. While the basic issues and procedures are the same regardless of your assets and income, high-end divorces tend to be much more complex. This means they also tend to be more time-consuming, and it means that there are more opportunities for contentious disputes to arise as well. As Irvine high asset divorce attorneys, we are intimately familiar with the issues, practicalities and nuances involved.

Which of your assets are on the table in your divorce? Which are you entitled to keep as your “separate” property? If you signed a prenuptial agreement, is it legally-enforceable in California? Since California’s community property law entitles each spouse to half of the couple’s marital estate under most circumstances, these are all critical questions that you need to answer so that you can make informed decisions as you prepare for your divorce.

Decades of Experience Representing High-Asset Spouses in Orange County

Our Irvine high asset divorce attorneys have decades of experience representing high-net-worth spouses in all stages of the divorce process. From pre-divorce planning to settlement negotiations and mediation, and from divorce litigation to post-divorce enforcement, we guide our clients through the critical issues involved in their divorces step-by-step. We are sensitive to the unique aspects of high-end divorces, and we have particular experience representing business owners, business executives, licensed medical or legal professionals, investors and other high-net-worth individuals.

As your legal counsel, we will work closely with you to identify the issues involved in your divorce, help you establish priorities, and develop a viable strategy for securing a favorable result. Depending on your personal family and financial circumstances, this may include addressing matters such as:

Enforcement or challenging your prenuptial or post nuptial agreement
Identification of your (and your spouse’s) separate assets and separate property components of community assets
Ownership and control of privately-owned businesses
Alimony for high-earning spouses
Ownership and distribution of investment portfolios, retirement accounts, real estate and other high-value assets
Protecting artwork, vehicles, yachts, jewelry, and other items of substantial monetary and sentimental value
Child support for extraordinary income earners
Child custody and parenting time issues for parents who work full time, travel frequently and have other commitments outside of the home

When necessary, our Orange County high-end divorce attorneys can also assist our clients with matters such as uncovering attempts to hide assets and income, intentionally remaining unemployed or underemployed, wasting community assets and using community assets to finance extramarital affairs. Regardless of the circumstances involved in your divorce, we have the experience to help you make informed and strategic decisions, and we have the commitment to ensure that your financial interests remain secure.

Our Irvine High Asset Divorce Attorneys Outline What May Make Your Divorce More Complicated as a High Income Family

Because high-income couples will generally have more to sort through in a divorce, the process will look a bit different for them. Below, we review what you can expect to be different about a high-income divorce.

Dividing Marital Property Typically Requires the Help of Irvine High Asset Divorce Attorneys

Higher earnings and wealth will usually mean there are more properties, bank accounts, and investments to divide between the spouses. California law states that marital property – or any property acquired during the marriage – must be divided equally between the spouses, so if you earn a significantly higher income than your spouse and wish to protect it, the only way you will be able to circumvent losing half your fortune is by proving that certain property shouldn’t be considered ‘marital’ property. An experienced Irvine high asset divorce attorney with extensive experience navigating high-income divorces will be key here.

As part of the division of assets, you will need to plan to hire a valuation expert who can assess the value of your property, be it real estate, investment portfolios, jewelry and other collectibles, cars, boats, and more. Because asset structures among high net worth individuals are often a complex web of investments scattered across companies, some spouses may wish to additionally hire a forensic accountant to ensure the other spouse isn’t purposely hiding assets in the divorce. Your Irvine high asset divorce lawyer can make recommendations on finding the right type of valuation experts to aid you in this process.

Calculating Support Payments is Complex in California for High Income Couples

When dealing with a high-income divorce, it’s likely that both spouses and any children that resulted from the marriage have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle. California courts require divorcing couples to be able to provide more or less the same type of lifestyle each party enjoyed during the marriage, and that’s especially true if there are children involved. California uses a complicated calculator for determining alimony and child support payments. Notably, high-income parents or spouses who do not plan to have the majority of custody over the children will be required to pay a higher portion of their earnings toward child support payments, ensuring that the primary caretaker of the children has everything they need to continue to provide the same type of lifestyle for their children.

FAQs: Getting Divorced as a High Net Worth Individual in Irvine

How much of my wealth can I keep in my divorce?

Determining how much of your wealth you will be able to keep will require an assessment of the specific circumstances involved in your divorce. As a general rule, California law requires divorcing spouses to divide their “community property” assets equally.

As a result, to the extent that your wealth qualifies as community property, as much as half could be at risk in your high-asset divorce. But, any assets that qualify as your “separate property” are yours to keep; and, if you have a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement, then the terms of your agreement should control over California’s default community property rule.

Will my spouse be entitled to a large amount of alimony?

Maybe. In California, a spouse’s right to alimony is determined based upon both need and ability to pay. If your spouse will need financial support after your divorce in order to maintain your standard of living, and if you will have the capacity to pay, then you may be looking at paying alimony after your divorce.

However, there are various ways that alimony can be structured, and there are ways that property division and alimony can be combined in order to reduce the amount that needs to be paid. Our high-asset divorce attorneys can help you weigh all of your options and ensure that you retain as much of your post-divorce income as possible.

What if my spouse wants to keep assets that I accumulated prior to our marriage?

In general, assets accumulated prior to the date of marriage do not qualify as community property. This means that the assets you owned prior to your marriage should be yours to keep in your divorce. But, there are exceptions. The commingling of assets, use of community assets to improve separate assets, and appreciation in the value of separate assets during a marriage can potentially give rise to community property rights.

Will I have to sell my vacation home, boat or other high-value assets during my divorce?

Again, the answer is maybe. Assuming these assets qualify as community property, you and your spouse will need to find a way to distribute them in your divorce. While one option is to sell and split the proceeds, another option is to have each spouse give up his or her interest in certain community assets in exchange for obtaining exclusive ownership of others.

So, for example, if you have a vacation home or boat that you want to keep after your divorce, you may be able to do so by effectively “buying out” your spouse’s interest in the asset. As we build your divorce strategy, our attorneys will work with you to protect your most-prized assets during the process.

Will your Irvine high asset divorce attorneys try to negotiate with my spouse or go to court?

In general, pursuing settlement negotiations is a good option because it can help keep costs down while also keeping your divorce out of the public eye. However, if the circumstances of your divorce suggest that attempting to negotiate upfront is not worthwhile, then our attorneys can pursue litigation with the goal of protecting your assets and income to the fullest extent possible.

Litigating Private Equity Positions in Divorce: What the Financial Analysis Actually Requires” (2026)

Request a Confidential Initial Consultation With One of Our Irvine High Asset Divorce Attorneys Today

If you are ready to file for divorce in Orange County, if your spouse has already filed, or if you are simply at the stage of planning ahead to preserve your wealth, we encourage you to get in touch. To schedule a confidential initial consultation with one of our highly-experienced Irvine high asset divorce attorneys, please call 949-474-0800 or send us a confidential message online today.

About the Firm

Seastrom Tuttle Murphy Dockstader is a family law firm in Irvine representing clients throughout Orange County, and in Los Angeles County. The firm practices family law exclusively.

Its attorneys include Fellows of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and of the International Academy of Family Lawyers, and attorneys certified as specialists in family law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. Members of the firm have served on the State Bar commission that authors the certification examination those specialists must pass, and have been recognized by Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers.

At a certain size the estate stops being a list of assets and becomes a structure. A holding company owns the operating companies. A family limited partnership owns the real estate. A 1031 exchange chain connects a property bought in 1998 to three properties held today, and the basis followed the chain while the value did not. A premarital brokerage account funded a down payment and the property was refinanced twice afterward. Each of those facts changes what is divisible and what it costs to divide.

Two problems recur. The first is tracing. Separate property contributed to a community asset can support a reimbursement claim, but only if the money can be followed through the accounts, and after fifteen years of transfers that is an accounting exercise before it is a legal one. The second is illiquidity. An equal division on paper is not an equal division in fact when one spouse takes cash and the other takes an interest that cannot be sold, carries a capital gains liability on sale, and produces income only when someone else decides to distribute it.

Support at these income levels also departs from the ordinary case. When compensation arrives as distributions, equity, or carried interest rather than salary, the figure that goes into a support calculation is itself the dispute, and the guideline formula was not built for the top of the income range.

Call 949.474.0800 to discuss the matter with the firm.

Common Questions

Who at the firm handles high asset divorces?

The firm practices family law exclusively and has represented Orange County families since 1976. Its Certified Family Law Specialists, certified in family law by the State Bar of California’s Board of Legal Specialization, are Brian G. Seastrom, Philip G. Seastrom, Thomas W. Tuttle, Janet E. Dockstader, and Ryan Patrick Murphy. Certification requires demonstrated experience in family law, peer review, and a written examination. The firm handles tracing after years of commingling, multi-entity business holdings, real estate portfolios with 1031 exchange chains, carried interest and waterfall distributions, RSUs and deferred compensation, contested business valuations, and support set far above the guideline schedule.

What makes a high asset divorce different from an ordinary one?

The legal standards are the same. What changes is that characterization, valuation, and tax consequence do most of the work, and each one is contestable. A large estate typically involves entities holding other entities, real property acquired through exchanges that carried basis forward, separate property contributions that have to be traced through years of transactions, and assets that cannot be sold or divided without triggering tax. The disputes are usually about the analysis rather than about who gets which item.

How is separate property traced after years of commingling?

Through the records. A separate property contribution to a community asset can support a reimbursement claim, but the party claiming it carries the burden of following the money from its separate source into the asset. That means account statements, closing documents, and transfer records, often going back a decade or more. Where the records are incomplete the claim weakens, which is why the tracing work usually starts early rather than at trial.

Is an equal split of the estate actually equal?

Not necessarily, and this is where a division goes wrong most often. Assets of the same nominal value can carry very different tax basis, liquidity, and control. A spouse who receives cash and a spouse who receives a minority interest in a family partnership have not received the same thing, even when the appraised values match. A division worth accepting is modeled after tax and after liquidity, not at appraised value.

How is support set when income is far above the guideline schedule?

The guideline formula still applies, but at high income levels the court has discretion to depart from it, and the harder question is usually what counts as income in the first place. When earnings arrive as owner distributions, equity awards, or fund interests rather than a paycheck, determining the income figure requires an examination of the entity returns and the distribution history. The marital standard of living becomes a live issue at this level in a way it is not in a typical case.

High Net Income and High Asset Divorce