Paradise Valley, AZ High-Net-Worth Divorce Attorneys

Overview

Privacy is usually the first thing a Paradise Valley client raises and it is a legitimate concern rather than vanity. Court files are public, and a contested trial puts a family balance sheet into a record anyone can read.

Most of what we do here is aimed at resolving the case without that. Call for a free consultation and we will tell you whether that is realistic in your matter.

Community or separate

Arizona Community Property, and the Out-of-State Rule

Arizona presumes under A.R.S. § 25-211 that property either spouse acquires during the marriage is community, subject to the exceptions for gift, devise and descent, and for property acquired after a petition is served where that petition leads to a decree. A.R.S. § 25-213 protects what a spouse brought in or inherited, along with its rents, issues and profits.

The provision that surprises people here sits in A.R.S. § 25-318. For the purposes of that section, property acquired by either spouse outside Arizona is deemed community property if it would have been community property had it been acquired in this state.

So a second home in California, a ranch in Montana or an apartment in another country does not sit outside the case simply because it sits outside Arizona. If it was bought during the marriage with marital effort or funds, expect it to be treated as community.

Valuing the estate

Appraisal and Timing Decide These Cases

Paradise Valley property does not have comparables in the ordinary sense. A one-acre custom estate is closer to a unique asset than to a tract home, and two competent appraisers can land a long way apart on the same house without either being unreasonable.

That makes two choices decisive. Who appraises, and as at what date. In a market that moves, the valuation date can be worth more than any argument about characterisation, and it is frequently agreed casually by people who have not thought about which direction it cuts.

The same applies to art, vehicles, club memberships and jewellery, which tend to be under-documented and over-assumed. We would rather inventory these properly at the outset than argue about them at a hearing.

Tax deserves the same attention. A.R.S. § 25-318 permits the court to consider obligations related to property, including taxes accruing on receipt. On a portfolio holding appreciated real estate, the pre-tax split and the after-tax split are different deals.

Where a family trust or an LLC holds the property, the ownership structure has to be untangled before anything can be valued, and that work takes longer than clients expect. Start it in the first month, not the sixth.

How we work

How We Handle a Paradise Valley Divorce

We have acted for NFL players, professional athletes and public figures, and what those matters have in common with this one is that the client wanted the outcome without the audience.

For clients here that experience matters less for the names than for the habits it builds. Careful handling of information, a preference for resolving matters privately, and no appetite for running a case in public when it can be settled.

Where the other side will not deal reasonably, we try the case, and we prepare on that basis from the first month rather than the last.