Overseas Assets, Offshore Accounts and Divorce
Overseas Assets, Offshore Accounts and Divorce
If your spouse has overseas assets or offshore accounts and you are getting divorced in England, you will want to know how to achieve a fair divorce financial settlement.
At OTS Solicitors, our Family Lawyers have experience in international divorce and advising on financial settlement involving overseas assets.
International divorce
You may think international divorce is the preserve of the high-net-worth, but that’s not correct. Many families have assets held overseas, such as:
- Second properties or holiday homes.
- Land.
- Bank accounts.
- Businesses.
- Trusts.
- Pensions.
- Assets such as yachts or gold.
Sometimes asset ownership is complicated. For example:
- Property ownership laws in the country require the land to be held in the name of a national of the country rather than in the name of a person with British citizenship.
- Property or a business was purchased overseas in the name of a relative or shell company for tax or other reasons.
Disclosure of overseas assets
Some spouses believe they are not under a duty to disclose any overseas assets because their divorce and financial remedy proceedings are ongoing in England. The financial disclosure rules require the disclosure of all assets, wherever they are located.
The property disclosure rules apply whether you or your spouse is a sole legal owner, a joint owner or a beneficial owner of property or land.
The financial disclosure rules also apply whether you or your spouse is a British citizen, a person with dual nationality, a citizen of the country where the assets are located or a citizen of a third country. Likewise, if you or your spouse is in England on a Skilled Worker Visa or Family Visa or has Indefinite Leave to Remain, the same financial disclosure rules apply.
The decision not to disclose
Sometimes people decide not to disclose an asset in financial negotiations or court proceedings. The reasons for nondisclosure can range from a belief that:
- The asset is overseas, so it isn’t within the jurisdiction of the English court.
- We signed a prenuptial agreement, so the assets are not relevant.
- I am a potential beneficiary of an offshore trust, and the trust is not relevant as payments are discretionary.
- A company is the legal owner of the property, as non-nationals cannot legally own property in the overseas country.
- The asset is not relevant as it was bought before our marriage.
- The asset is not worth the hassle of disclosure.
- I am only a partial property owner of overseas land.
None of these reasons is a valid reason not to disclose an asset.
If a financial settlement or financial court order is made and the non-disclosure is subsequently discovered, the person prejudiced by the non-disclosure could ask the court in England to set aside the financial court order and make a new financial court order that takes into account the non-disclosed asset.
Legal advice on disclosure of assets held overseas
It is best to speak to an international divorce solicitor on the relevance of all your assets before you apply for a financial court order or before responding to your ex-spouse’s application and completing your Form E financial disclosure.
If you get your financial disclosure wrong and do not disclose a relevant asset, then there could be wide-ranging implications, such as:
- Your spouse may be overly suspicious that you have other undisclosed overseas assets. They may therefore be unwilling to reach a financial settlement through mediation or any other form of alternative dispute resolution.
- Your spouse may want to apply to court for a freezing order injunction to freeze all overseas assets to prevent you from selling or disposing of them.
- Your former husband or wife may want to join other people in the English financial remedy proceedings, such as the co-owner of land or the trustees of an offshore trust.
- The court may draw adverse inferences against you at the final hearing of the financial remedy application.
- The court could make a cost order against you because of the non-disclosure.
- The court could order a different type of financial court order because the non-disclosure of the overseas asset has made it more cautious about the structure of the financial settlement.
There is a duty to provide full financial disclosure when negotiating a financial settlement after a separation or divorce, or during financial remedy proceedings. If you are in doubt as to the extent of the required financial disclosure, it is important to take legal advice before completing your Form E financial statement.
International Family Law Solicitors
Whether you are the owner of offshore accounts or overseas assets, or suspect that your spouse holds such assets, you need expert legal advice on financial disclosure, asset valuation, the structure of financial settlements where there are overseas assets and the enforceability of an English financial court order.
The Family Lawyers at OTS Solicitors work closely with specialist counsel, overseas attorneys, forensic accountants, asset tracers and investigators to help you secure a financial court order from the courts in England, including in situations where some of the assets are held overseas.
Appointments are available at our office in London and by phone or online consultation.
Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil, Tagalog/Ilonggo, and Urdu/Punjabi.
Related Posts
What is a Freezing Injunction Order in Divorce Financial Proceedings?
Guide to Getting a Financial Consent Order
What is a Pension Sharing Order?
Alternatives to Going to Court to Resolve a Family Law Dispute