When a marriage involves significant wealth — a business, professional practice, real estate portfolio, executive compensation, or substantial retirement assets — divorce becomes as much a financial engagement as a legal one. The stakes are higher, the valuation questions harder, and mistakes more expensive and more permanent. The Law Office of John Vernon Moore, P.A. represents business owners, physicians, executives, military retirees, and their spouses in high-net-worth divorces throughout Brevard County.
What Makes a High Net Worth Divorce Different
Florida’s equitable distribution rules are the same for every couple. What changes with wealth is the difficulty of the three underlying questions: what exists, what is marital, and what is it worth. In a typical divorce those answers come from a few bank statements. In a high-asset case they can require forensic accountants, business valuation experts, and careful tracing of assets acquired before and during the marriage.
Business and Professional Practice Valuation
A closely held business or professional practice is often the largest and most contested asset. Florida courts distinguish between enterprise goodwill (value that belongs to the business itself and is divisible) and personal goodwill (value tied to the owner’s individual reputation and skills, which is not a marital asset in Florida). That distinction alone can swing a valuation dramatically — and it is exactly where experienced counsel and the right valuation expert earn their fee. Buy-sell agreements, minority discounts, and how the business was funded during the marriage all factor in.
Executive and Complex Compensation
Salaries are easy; modern compensation is not. Stock options and restricted stock units vesting on different schedules, deferred compensation, bonuses earned in one year and paid in another, carried interest — each requires deciding what portion is marital and how to divide something that may not be transferable. Getting the marital/non-marital cut-off right on unvested equity is one of the most consequential technical issues in these cases.
Retirement Assets and QDROs
Dividing 401(k)s, pensions, and military retirement isn’t done by handshake — it requires precise orders (QDROs for private plans, specific DFAS-compliant language for military retired pay) drafted to match the settlement exactly. Sloppy drafting here creates problems that surface years later, when they are hardest to fix. Our retirement division practice covers this in depth.
Hidden Assets and Forensic Accounting
Wealth creates places to hide money: undisclosed accounts, income run through a business, assets titled to entities or family members, cryptocurrency. Florida’s mandatory disclosure rules are the floor, not the ceiling — when the numbers don’t add up, we work with forensic accountants to trace transfers, reconstruct income, and put the true financial picture in front of the court. Courts can and do sanction concealment, including awarding the innocent spouse a larger share.
Alimony in High-Income Cases
Florida’s 2023 alimony reform caps durational alimony by the length of the marriage and limits the amount to the recipient’s need or 35% of the difference in net incomes, whichever is less. In high-income cases the fight is usually over what “income” and “need” really mean — whether the marital lifestyle, business perquisites, and investment returns count, and how to structure support tax-efficiently. See our alimony overview for the current framework.
Privacy and Protecting the Business
High-asset divorces attract attention. We use protective orders and confidentiality agreements to keep financial records out of the public file where possible, structure settlements to keep operating businesses intact, and — where a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement exists — litigate or enforce it strategically.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Florida a 50/50 property state?
Florida presumes an equal split of marital assets is equitable, but courts can deviate based on statutory factors — including dissipation of assets and extraordinary contributions. Non-marital property (premarital assets, inheritances, gifts kept separate) is not divided at all, which makes classification the real battleground.
My spouse owns the business. Am I entitled to part of it?
If the business was started or grew in value during the marriage, some or all of that value is likely marital — even if it is titled solely in your spouse’s name. The enterprise/personal goodwill distinction and valuation date will drive the number.
Do we each need our own valuation expert?
Often yes in contested cases — competing valuations are common, and the credibility of methodology matters. In cooperative cases, a jointly retained neutral expert can save substantial cost.
How long does a high-asset divorce take?
Longer than average when valuations are contested — expert work adds months. See our Florida divorce timeline for the stages and where complex cases slow down.
Protect What You’ve Built
Whether you are the primary earner protecting a business or the spouse who needs the full financial picture surfaced, preparation decides these cases. Call (321) 529-7777 or contact us online for a free 30-minute consultation with Attorney John Vernon Moore.