Showing posts with label divorce and pre divorce planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label divorce and pre divorce planning. Show all posts

Wednesday, 13 February 2008

ASSET PROTECTION AND DIVORCE STRATEGIES - HELLS ANGEL STYLE!

Readers will remember the story of Susan Crossley, the so-called career Divorcee who had gained £18million form her last 3 divorces. She was suing her latest husband, Stuart Crossley, for half of his £45million fortune - despite only being married for 14 months and having signed a "Pre-Nup" saying she would seek nothing fom him!

I am happy to report that apparently for once the courts have done the decent thing and told her they will enforce the Pre-Nup - which is not normally protected under UK law. One for justice and right I am happy to say.

The only thing we need now is for the McCartney divorce judge to see some sense and tell the one legged wonder where to "hop off!"

On the point of Asset Protection - ever dear to my heart- I read that the wife of a Hells Angel believed her husband operated in a "cash universe" with a multitude of suspicious cash transactions. The wife alleged that their standard of living showed her husband had earned further cash than he had declared in their divorce proceedings. In a court ruling the judge noted that some of the husbands business dealings were highly unconventional - I suppose as you would expect from a Hells Angel who owns a chain of clothing stores - and indeed while the judge expressed concern over the truthfulness of some of the husbands evidence the husband had not received unreported cash.

The judge acknowledged the husband had friends and associates who were prepared to often lend him money in large sums often without security! Included in the "unusual" transactions were an unsecured loan for $500,000 and a cash payment of $28,000 for the balance of a Leased car! During the divorce the husband sold 3 watches worth $54,500! The judge ruled that the task of trying to determine the asset value of the husband was made more difficult because a number of his business transactions were conducted in "unconventional ways" including large cash payments, a company paying the personal debt of a shareholder, the husband not cashing company paycheques.

I often say that if you play by "the rules" you commit suicide. This Hells Angel certainly displays the benefits of a "fully rounded" education, the sort regrettably too few men learn! He did not play by the accepted rules and as a consequence the court had difficulty assessing his asset value! Congratulations! Men everywhere take note, waken up, and don't play by the rules; hide your true asset value, don't be afraid to deal in cash, it doesn't leave records and trails for dealings and can keep women and their lawyers and the courts guessing!

Asset Protection strategies in divorce start with confidentiality. They continue by not playing by the rules, your wife's, the courts' or anyone elses except your own! Protect your assets and you will protect your ass!

Monday, 11 February 2008

McCartney divorce and the reason for men hiding assets.

Well, the McCartney divorce circus returns to court this week. The "one legged wonder" is representing herself having fallen out with her legal team, apparently after appearing on TV and comparing herself to Princess Diana and others and owing them in the region of two million in fees!

I am puzzled. The justification in the divorce courts for the looting a husbands wealth in favour of an ex-wife is usually based on the premise that the ex-wife contributed indirectly to the family fortune by being a housewife, a support, perhaps a mother and generally a major part of the family team, while hubby went and built the bank balances. In Sir Paul's case he was already very wealthy BEFORE he met the one legged wonder, and from my perspective she has had nothing but a negative impact on him; think of her damaging appearances and the leaked allegations in the press. He was worth over £800 million before he married her and is worth approximatley the same now. Why should she get a share of this fortune when she contributed Zilch?

Of course there is the question of children. If I were Sir Paul I would be arguing that the mother is unfit, using her press appearances and confessions against her, but even where this is not the case a simple financial solution should - and indeed has been established by the Child Support Agency. Their monetary formula having been established the amount of child support should not be an issue in the courts. If Sir Paul wanted to establish a more generous Family Trust for the benefit of his daughter with the one legged wonder then he could, but of course these funds should be independently administered by trustees, not by the grasping ex-wife.

The other justification for looting a husbands money is the "lifestyle" argument; namely that a wife is entitled to be kept in as similar a lifestyle after divorce as before it. This however has some logical weaknesses.

First, why should a wife of only a few years marriage be entitled to be kept in the same lifestyle as when married to a husband independently wealthy before the marriage? To me this is really a legal sanctioning of prostitution. After all we are compensating the ex-wife who contributed nothing to the husbands wealth for what? Sleeping with him is about it.

Second, this argument is totally unfair in a system of "no-fault" divorce. We say it is a system of no blame divorce but in reality husbands are penalised as if they were guilty! If neither party is being blamed then the only basis for redistribution of wealth is contribution, which in the McCartney case and other similar short lived marriages is virtually nothing and should be compensated in that light.

If fault were taken into account then the guilty party should not be compensated and the guilty one should be penalised, whether husband or wife. This would be fair and vastly different to now where, only by virtue of being married, a wife receives an unfair redistribution of wealth! If a husband is guilty in the demise of the marriage then I can see the argument as to why a wife be compensated from his fortune to live a similar lifestyle as when the marriage was ongoing, but if he did not then why should he be penalised? It is illogical and more, it gives rise to a great sense of injustice and grievence.

In our sophistication we have tried to sanitise divorce from acrimony by deleting reference to guilt and blame, but instead we have left men with a sense of injustice that is a festering wound. No wonder more and more men seek to hide and protect their assets.

Good luck Sir Paul, don't give away too much- she doesn't deserve it.

http://www.doctorditcher.com/
mailto:doctorditcher@hushmail.com

Thursday, 20 December 2007

Another expensive divorce in the UK? Even after a Pre nup!

You have to feel sorry for Stuart Crossley. Not financially, he is worth around £50 million! No, for his choice in wives and his optimism!

He married Susan (nee Dean) in January 2006 having met her about 3 months previously. She had been married 3 times previously ( interestingly always to very wealthy men, thats interesting) and on each occasion had left richer than she had arrived at the altar. When she married Stuart she was worth about £20million, mostly from her last Divorce in 2000 when she'd scooped £16million from Robert Sangster, heir to the Vernon Pools Empire.

Stuart must have thought he'd protected himself by getting her to sign a pre nup in which she promised not to pursue his fortune if the marriage failed. Even though not legally binding in the U.K. a pre nup is still "taken into account" by British Courts, especially in cases like the Crossleys' where the marriage only lasted a few months! Yes, they seperated in June/July 2006 after marrying in January of that year.

I know you will be stunned to know that although Susan, as the doll she is, promised not to pursue his fortune, guess what, she is pursuing his fortune after all! She says the pre nup should not stand because he had not told her about all his assets and he has secret funds stashed in Andorra and Monaco.

Lessons to be learned? Simple.
1. Wise men do not imagine that a leopard - or in this case a cougar - will ever change its spots!
2. Wiser men stash funds in secret because pre nups are open to challenge by an angry cougar.

http://www.doctorditcher.com
mail to; doctorditcher@hushmail.com

Saturday, 8 December 2007

A Multi Millionaire shows how to protect your Assets in divorce.

Mr and Mrs Mubarak have spent more than £4m in legal costs so far in their divorce/financial settlement case. Their case shows the inability of the U.K.'s family justice system to enforce divorce awards against former husbands whose wealth is tied up in trusts, off-shore structures and other asset protection strategies!

Asset protection Planning working in divorce.



Mubarik has run up a bill of more than £2m in costs to avoid paying his former wife, Aaliya, a lump sum of almost £5m, an amount the high court ordered him to pay nearly eight years ago. The pair although resident in the U.K. for tax purposes and liable to English taxation, manage to avoid paying any tax at all! You see some wealth preservation strategies do not need to be just about divorce, the good advice if acted upon can have tax benefits as well.

Note one of the simple things Mr. Mubarak did; The couple, come from prosperous families in the Kashmir region of India and lived in Kuwait and Hong Kong before moving to London in 1997. Mubarik's companies have business interests at the first two locations and there are also shops in Paris and New Bond Street, in London. The shares in his worldwide empire are owned by a family trust in Jersey, which has complicated his former wife's efforts to acquire his assets. Asset protection planning at it's best! These assets are hidden in the open yet so no one can get at them.

Pre Divorce Strategist at work!



Mubarik put his net worth at £8m in the divorce proceedings, but Mr Justice Bodey ruled that he had substantial undisclosed assets and ordered him to pay £4.875m.
In nearly eight years his former wife has managed to get only £266,000 of that, via the forced sale of Mubarik's properties. (Disappointed, baby?!)

Who says Asset protection strategies do not work? Mr. Mubarik obviously had good advice, I wonder from whom?

http://www.doctorditcher.com/

mailto: mailto:doctorditcher@hushmail.com


Tuesday, 4 December 2007

Five signs you are heading for divorce and need a wealth protection strategy!

Sometimes I am asked by clients whether they are "paranoid" in thinking their marriage is heading down the tube. I am usually advising them about issues of asset protection and various wealth protection strategies and they are beginning to wonder is it all necessary; maybe they were just being "paranoid"? I usually ask some questions to find out why they feel things are not going well. Generally I find that despite their reputation, mens' intuition in these matters equals that of any woman; perhaps it is heightened by the pressure or stress that a failing marriage brings or perhaps the stereo-typical picture of an insensitive man is wrong - as most stereotypes are.

Here are five tell-tale signs that things are not as they should be.

1) Attention changes. Either the wife pays more attention to the husband due to guilt or else seems to find fault with the husband, because she tries to justify the affair in their mind.

2) Sex changes; this can be less interest in sex or indeed occasionally more interest.

3) Money changes. Try and keep a check on where the money goes; if she is more cautious with spending, it is often because there are additional expenses you don't know about. Sometimes a wife starts spending far more than previously on household or family outgoings. This may mean she has received legal advice and be increasing her "financial needs". This is your wife doing her little bit of pre divorce planning.

4) Personal changes; watch out for habit changes in gym attendance, new more sexy clothes in the cupboard - but not used for you! New hair styles, new perfumes, indeed any significant change of routine can signify a change of of object of desire.

5) Phone changes. Maybe a wife whispers on the phone and abruptly changes voice tone or hangs up when you come into the room. Check her mobile account, especially calls made to the same number after leaving for work or just before coming back from work.


As you wll have noticed all of these are behavioural changes of one form or another, because when a person knows their personal relationship is wrong their behaviour changes. Emotional detachment from you signifies a lot. Avoiding communication or talking signifies that the relationship is not on course. When she avoids either connection to her husband or from her obligations as a wife or mother and starts prioritising her needs and desires and behaving as if it is purely her life and she wants to live it her own way rather than with you, then break-up will follow. Sometimes she will accuse you of having an affair as a way of distracting attention.

When you discover some of these changes do not confront your wife as this will only mean she adjusts her behaviour and makes it more difficult for you to keep track of what she is doing. To the same degree that your wife's behaviour has changed because she knows she is turning her back on her relationship with you, so you must make sure that your behaviour does not change to alert her to your suspicions. Instead, keep things as "normal" as possible and do some "pre divorce planning" and exercises in "wealth and asset protection" for the day that comes. Just as she is "playing a game" with you, so you must learn to play the same game in reverse while you protect your assets and wealth and work out a divorce strategy.

Next time, I'll tell you five simple things you should do immediatley you become suspicious to protect your wealth and assets before the divorce war to follow.

http://www.doctorditcher.com/
mailto:doctorditcher@hushmail.com

Tuesday, 27 November 2007

What your wife WILL do in pre divorce planning.

I am often told by new clients how they cannot believe that THEIR wife would do anything underhand to them in the course of a divorce. I am also often told by new clients how they cannot believe what THEIR wife did, not just in the course of the divorce, but even before a divorce case was launched! Square the circle folks and you find as I do that if you scratch the surface, all women in or contemplating a divorce will do remarkably similar things to undermain a man's asset protection strategies.

To illustrate the point I recently read an online article by a U.S. divorce lawyer as advice to women on finding out as much as possible about a spouses financial and business affairs PRIOR to divorce. It makes interesting reading for those of us on the other side of the fence, namely seeking to protect assets and wealth in divorce. She stressed the need to find out as much as possible about a husbands business and financial affairs BEFORE the divorce was launched; this included opening mail, making a note of Bank account details, requesting copies of tax returns the wife had signed for as many years as possible and where she had not signed, then if she had access to his place of business going there and trying to find them. She also advised about "suspicious" transfers to others and valuing assets like paintings and other art.

It just reinforces one of the points that I always make; financial privacy is the key to asset and wealth protection. Keep confidential matters confidential and they have a good chance of remaining confidential; fail to, and you will constantly be chasing after your wife and her divorce lawyer to react to their next legal move on foot of what they know about your financial affairs.

If you don't think your wife would do these things as pre divorce planning then WAKE UP AND SMELL THE ROSES! I'm telling you, I cannot remember a case where a wife DID NOT go through her husbands mail to find details of bank statements, accountants' advice, life policies etc. As sure as "eggs is eggs", SHE WILL DO IT!!!!! - Think guys, she may even be doing it today!!!

On a final point, you will notice that the lawyer refers to a wife getting copies of the tax returns she has signed. Apart from her own individual tax returns, she can only legitimatley get other returns where she has signed either as a partner or a Company Director. The lesson? It may seem obvious, but if your wife is a partner or an officer of your company that is something that needs to be resolved BEFORE she thinks that your doing so is a problem!

http://www.doctorditcher.com/
mailto:doctorditcher@hushmail.com

Wednesday, 21 November 2007

What high profile divorces teach us about asset and wealth protection for men in divorce or separation.

The McCartney divorce has been attracting headlines recently, not only because of the vast sums of money speculated as being the settlement figure, but also because of the strange media antics of Lady McCartney herself. The McCartney divorce however is only the latest in a series of high profile divorces we have seen high before where men have built up a business, assets wealth and good-standing through hard work, only to lose a massive amount during separation or divorce to someone they once loved and trusted. Heather Mills has just made it into the record books because of the amount she appears to be about to scoop after only four years of marriage and because she has achieved so much as a 'one legged wonder'! Heck, a woman with two legs wouldn't have cost Paul twice as much, would she?



As a professional involved in asset protection and divorce strategies for men I have a very jaundiced view of her and women like her. I feel she is simply taking advantage of the pro-feminist injustice that currently "infects" the divorce courts both in Britain and America.


With a very few exceptions none of the women in these cases would have made a hill of beans unless they had managed to snare a very successful man. Their only claim to fame - or wealth - comes from screwing the poor slob one last time, through the courts!



The one lesson you learn by observing these cases is that the women take divorce planning and divorce strategies very seriously, the men usually don't. The men could do with a lot more asset protection planning, - my forte! Men think, " I'll get a good divorce lawyer and all will be OK." Bulls**t! A divorce lawyer is like a mortician; he just serves the corrupted flesh in as attractive a way as possible. Men need to actively protect their assets , not just trusting it will all work out. Divorce strategies and wealth protection do not just happen, they need to be planned!


If you think the courts or a good divorce lawyer will protect you, or if you think, your wife/girl is different and it won't happen to you, wake up and smell the roses!


I have a lot of sympathy for a man like Sir Paul; he didn't want to believe that things would deteriorate the way they did. Also, he probably didn't believe that he would be so badly stung after only four years of marriage. I don't know how many times he and she "did-it" over a four year period, but guess and then divide the number into the 50 million everyone seems to be talking about and - well, you get the idea ; a very expensive experience!



So what should a man in McCartney's shoes have done? The thing is, a man must act when things start to go badly wrong. If you wait and let the woman act first you will always be reacting to her legal pressure. If you act first you get ahead of the game. You need to be protecting your assets by pre divorce planning, just like the women plan their attack on your assets pre divorce, and believe me, they do!


So how does a man act first? Regrettably I can't give away my secrets here because my expertise is very particular and only my clients get to benefit from it, but there are a number of simple strategies for asset protection which men can put in place to control the knowledge their wife /partner gains about their affairs while they are still married.



In the field of asset and wealth protection knowledge is king. Deprive the woman of knowledge and she will always be chasing after you for the information; let her have the knowledge and you will always be racing to catch up with her as she seeks to benefit from her knowledge of your affairs! It is one of the best pieces of wealth protection advice anyone can be given.



Asset protection planning and wealth preservation and protection MUST start before the divorce starts if it is to be successful! Doing so will not initiate the divorce; asset protection planning will not prompt the end of the relationship; not at all. There are simple yet subtle steps you can take that she will never find out about, but which will keep your affairs private. It is a very effective divorce strategy for protecting assets.


So, why is privacy so important? I am "The International Privacy Strategist for Men" -No one else does what I do. Privacy is the foundation of asset protection. If you maintain privacy you can choose what information to reveal and what to withhold. If you do not maintain your privacy, you cannot make that choice because you cannot control the flow of information. Of course there is more to it than that but privacy is the start of all asset protection planning and divorce strategies.


I teach my clients four Maxims, - rules of behaviour reflecting truths. The first is; "Treat confidential matters confidentially." If you don't, then don't be surprised when your wife or partner uses the knowledge gained to her personal advantage. As for the other three, sorry but only my clients get to hear them!


As for Sir Paul, if he had been my client his asset protection planning and divorce strategy would have been put in place years ago and he isn't acting on my advice or my maxims or Heather McCartney wouldn't be talking about anywhere near 50 million!


http://www.doctorditcher.com/ or email doctorditcher@hushmail.com