How to Protect Digital Assets in a Divorce
The division of marital property in divorce is often extremely challenging. However, you can expect more when digital assets are involved. If you are facing a divorce, your financial rights are important, and the surest means of protecting them is working closely with an experienced Gwinnett County divorce attorney at Banks, Stubbs & McFarland.
Your Marital Assets
The assets that you, your spouse, or you and your spouse together acquired during your marriage are all considered marital property. Upon divorce, this marital property must be divided fairly between you. While fairly can mean 50/50, it doesn’t always.
Separate property, on the other hand, refers to anything either of you owned prior to marriage and kept strictly separate throughout. Any commingling of separate and marital assets can weaken the separate owner’s claim to what once belonged to them alone.
To ensure a fair distribution of assets, it’s important to determine what qualifies as your separate property, to accurately assess your marital estate, and to hammer out an equitable division.
Digital Assets
Assessing the ownership and value of digital assets can be complicated in general, and the matter of property division in divorce can turn things up several notches. Digital assets refer to intangible assets that are stored electronically, tend to be traded online, and can be easier for unscrupulous spouses to hide in divorce.
Common Digital Assets
Digital assets come in a range of forms that include all the following:
- Cryptocurrencies, which are digital currencies that are traded online, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum
- Online assets, which include monetized social media accounts, digital royalties, and domain names
- Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which include digital music or art and other blockchain collectibles
Ownership
If the digital asset was purchased during the marriage, it is almost certainly marital property. The only exceptions include if the asset was inherited by or gifted to one spouse alone or if separate assets were used to purchase it.
Valuation
Putting accurate value on digital data is a complicating factor. Georgia courts generally name a date on which values are assigned to marital assets during divorce, and this is usually the final court date or the date that the divorce is finalized. Because digital assets, especially cryptocurrencies, are closely associated with fluctuations in value, this date can make a serious difference.
The relative volatility of digital assets make it important to pay attention to market trends as well as asset liquidity and related platform fees. Carefully tracking account information and value over time is key to protecting digital assets in divorce.
A Gwinnett County Divorce Lawyer Is Standing By to Help
The focused divorce attorneys at Banks, Stubbs & McFarland are well acquainted with the financial and legal intricacies of digital assets, which leaves them well-positioned to help. Protect your financial rights by reaching out and contacting us online or calling us at 770-887-1209 for more information about what we can do for you today.