Can assets be divorce-proofed by transferring them internationally?

Sometimes spouses planning divorce do shelter their assets in international asset protection trusts. Although they must disclose these trust assets to the divorce court, the court generally cannot recover or divide these trust assets under divorce. But this hardly assures victory.

Divorce courts can award the victimized spouse a greater share of the U.S.-based assets to compensate for the trust-shielded assets. The court might also award the injured spouse compensatory alimony. However, the international trust can effectively secure separate property when you have few or no remaining assets within the United States and your income is too low for the court to even the score through a larger alimony award.

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