How to Protect Children’s Interests in High-Value Divorces

Your financial considerations in a divorce often extend beyond yourself. You may also be concerned about your child and their financial future. The division of assets in the divorce could include assets that you want to use for your child's future. You may consider your child's interest in a divorce and preserve the assets that you have intended for their use in the future. A family law lawyer can advise you about how to protect your child’s financial interests.

You should consider your child and their future when you are negotiating a potential divorce settlement with your spouse. It is possible that the two of you are on the same page in what you need to do to take care of the children. You may even consider setting up one or more trusts to care for them in the future and use marital assets to do so.

Of course, you can only do this through the agreement of your spouse, so it is crucial that you are able to be in agreement. However, there is less of a chance that you could agree with your spouse if you are seeking assets for your own children who were not born of the marriage. If you cannot reach an agreement, you would need to consider your children's interests as you litigate your divorce case in court.

If You Have a Prenup, Make Sure to Enforce It

You may already have a prenuptial agreement in place that is intended to protect assets that you want your child to have. These agreements would protect assets that you brought into the marriage that you intend to pass to your own children. Prenuptial agreements are usually enforceable, although there may be challenges to their validity based on the circumstances that existed at the time that the contract was negotiated. It is vital that you fight to have this agreement enforced in the face of any contests and allegations that it is unenforceable.

The Court Applies the Best Interests of the Child Test to Child Support

Child support issues can be paramount in any type of divorce, and they will certainly come into play when there is a high amount of assets and income involved. If you are the parent who is receiving support, you want to ensure that your children have what they need. You do not want the children to experience too many changes from the life that they lived before the divorce. While there will invariably be some change in their circumstances and lifestyle, you want to minimize disruptions in their lives to the fullest extent possible.

When it comes to financial considerations in a divorce, the court will apply the best interests of the child test. However, this test will only be used when matters of child support are at issue. If asset division is at issue, equitable division factors will determine how much in assets each spouse will receive.

Assets alone will not determine which parent will gain custody of the children if there is a dispute. The court will place the children in an arrangement that meets their best interests, whether it is awarding custody to one parent or ordering shared physical custody. If the parent who is awarded custody is in an inferior financial situation, the court may equalize matters in its determination of child support. It may be in the children's best interest for them to be supported in the best manner possible.