High-Asset Divorce Battle: How a Stay-at-Home Mom Secured More Than $20k Per Month

Robinson & Henry’s knowledgeable attorneys offer professional insight in “From Our Perspective,” where we examine their successful outcomes. 

In high-asset divorces, the financial stakes are high, especially when one spouse is hiding money. During this episode, Family Law Partner Senior Associate Todd Heideman discusses how he helped a woman secure alimony payments of more than $20,000 per month after uncovering her husband’s concealed assets.

Past results afford no guarantee of future results; each matter is different and must be judged on its own merits. Facts are those of an actual Robinson & Henry family law case. 

After more than 30 years of marriage, our client, a stay-at-home mother, came to Robinson & Henry for help filing for divorce. She had spent decades raising four children while her husband built a lucrative career. However, she had little knowledge of their financial situation, including how much money they had or even her husband’s income.

Without any insight into their financial standing, she turned to Heideman’s team to investigate and uncover the true extent of their assets.

The husband’s complete control over their finances was a major challenge in the case. He kept multiple business and personal accounts that he refused to disclose, preventing our client from accessing account balances or transactions. 

He provided her with only limited funds each month to cover household expenses. If she needed additional money, she had to justify her request. This arrangement left her financially dependent and vulnerable.

Heideman and his team discovered that the husband was actively trying to deplete marital assets and conceal money from his wife. He made expensive purchases, including luxury vehicles and expensive jewelry, to reduce the available cash.

He also kept secret accounts where he hid most of the couple’s wealth. The husband also withdrew large amounts of money from business accounts, transferred funds between multiple accounts, and made difficult-to-trace PayPal transactions. These odd financial activities were signs he was trying to avoid an equitable distribution of marital assets.

In cases with hidden assets, our family law team can utilize forensic accountants. These experts will analyze bank records, tracing deposits, withdrawals, and expenditures to map out the couple’s financial history. 

During an in-depth investigation, Heideman’s team discovered that the husband was earning well over $1 million annually. With this evidence, Heideman secured a long-term alimony arrangement for our client, awarding her more than $20,000 per month.

Divorce is not just an emotional battle, it’s a financial one. Heideman advises clients to focus on their legal entitlements rather than the emotional turmoil of the situation.

High-asset divorces require legal professionals who understand how to uncover hidden assets, whether stored in different accounts, cryptocurrency, or undisclosed business holdings. 

Also, working with a legal team with access to top financial forensic experts can significantly affect the case outcome.

For individuals facing a high-stakes divorce, the right legal strategy can make all the difference in securing their financial future.

Read this video’s full transcript:

Question: Todd, thank you for joining me today. Tell me more about our client and why she needed your help. 

Todd: Our client came to us looking to file for divorce. She had been married for over 30 years. She was a stay-at-home mom, raised the parties four children while the opposing party advanced his career. Our client didn’t really know how much money they had or what assets they had. She didn't even know how much her husband was making income-wise. She hired us to figure all these issues out. 

Question: What were some of the limitations the client faced just to access their money? 

Todd: The opposing party had a few individual accounts, as well as a few business accounts, but refused to provide our client with access to those accounts or the account balances or anything like that.

He did let her have a joint account, where he would put in just enough money a month to allow our client to pay the monthly household expenses. If she wanted money beyond that, she essentially had to beg him for it. 

Question: How was the spouse hiding assets and also wasting marital money in this case? 

Todd: Shortly after we filed for divorce, he bought a couple of expensive vehicles, bought a bunch of expensive jewelry essentially trying to use up the parties’ cash. Then he was trying to conceal that property from our client. 

Also, because he kept those accounts secret where he had the lion's share of their money. We found out later he was making big withdrawals directly from the business account, as well as funneling money around different accounts, and making payments to people on PayPal, for instance, that we didn't recognize so that type of behavior. 

Question: In cases like this, what type of experts can you use to find out if a spouse is hiding the marital assets? 

Todd: One of the experts we typically rely on will be a forensic accountant. If there's complicated financial issues in the case, the forensic accountant essentially takes a deep dive into the parties’ accounts and their assets.

It traces every deposit, withdrawal, expenditure so that you can have a roadmap of what assets the parties have as well as what's been dissipated and who has dissipated it.  

Question: What was your legal strategy and the outcome in this case? 

Todd: After some research that we did, as well as a little help from our client, we learned that the opposing party was making well over $1 million a year through his businesses. 

Our goal was to essentially get her an award of long-term maintenance. As the outcome, we were able to reach an agreement with the opposing party. Our client was awarded maintenance in the amount of over $20,000 a month for a long-term period. 

Question: How do you advise clients who are weighing both the emotional aspects of divorce and also trying to treat it as a business decision?

Todd: I try to get my clients to focus on getting what they're legally entitled to and to try to treat their divorce like a court case. Also trying to get them to project into the future after the divorce. 

In particular, to think about their financial security. Also the fact that this court case or this is their one chance to get what they're entitled to as far as the marital estate.

Question: If someone is watching and they're in a similar situation with their divorce, what advice would you have? 

Todd: I think anytime there are complicated financial issues. You need an attorney who has experience with those kind of cases. An attorney who has the knowledge to know what to look for as far as, maybe hidden assets or money hidden in cryptocurrency, those types of things. Also, an attorney even has a network, where if you need the right kind of expert and a high-level expert, you know where to find them and how to retain them.