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Without a doubt, for many people, relationships have become more complicated in 2020.

The added stress of a pandemic, coupled with being trapped in a house together, wasn’t ideal for a number of couples and revealed a few issues that might not have otherwise come to light under different circumstances – at least not for a while.

The great gender divide also became starkly apparent during hard lockdowns, with women finding themselves taking on the lion’s share of the housework, childcare, and education of their children while at the same time working from home.

As I’m sure you can imagine, all of the above has produced its fair share of trouble, and in some cases the breakdown of the relationship altogether.

I believe they call it “irreconcilable differences” in South African divorce courts.

The above tends to apply to the average person without cash to burn, or as is the case with the wealthy, massive amounts of cash to divide in divorce settlements.

That’s where things get tricky in a different way.

For New York divorce lawyer Nancy Chemtob, COVID-19 has been very good for business.

She told The Financial Times that:

“People come to me and tell me they have spent years married to someone who works round the clock as, say, a hedge fund manager or a lawyer, and now they are being forced to quarantine with that person day in, day out — the cracks in their relationship are starting to show,” says Chemtob, speaking from her plush home in wealthy East Hampton on Long Island, where she spent lockdown conducting online meetings with clients from her backyard.

Since the start of the pandemic, a number of wealthy people have split from their partners, including Kelly Clarkson, Mary-Kate Olsen, and Shane Lynch.

Chemtob says that at her firm, divorce enquiries are up 30%.

Then there’s Sharon Ser, a partner in the local divorce and family law team for Withers in Hong Kong, who says that the biggest impact on people has been the inability to travel.

She says people involved in long-term extramarital affairs cannot now use business trips to maintain these relationships. “I’ve heard of people taking more and more risks to continue these affairs. And they are inevitably being caught out,” says Ser. “Just last week I had five new clients call me — this is great for business, but a disaster for society.”

In short, the pandemic has made it harder for people to cheat on their partners.

Lovely.

For the rich and famous, with assets tied up in ventures worldwide, the division of said assets is also tricky, with some of them resorting to shady tactics to hang on to their cash.

The choice of jurisdiction can make a big difference as to how assets are split. Notably, the courts in England and Wales, compared with places such as continental Europe, the US and China, have a reputation for being more generous to the financially weaker party — often the wife of a high-earning husband.

Take for example the divorce between Russian billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov and his ex-wife Tatiana Akhmedova. 

Massive yachts, intercontinental marriage laws, some complicated litigation, and a ruling based on an archaic bit of legislation known as champerty which dates back to feudal times – it had it all.

Then there’s this:

“I’m hearing from people who want to file for divorce quickly while their businesses are experiencing a large fall in profitability,” says Chemtob, who has had calls from property developers, restaurateurs and retailers.

These people want to file for divorce quickly while asset values are low, because the assets are usually valued at the date when the divorce application is made.

“Clients call me to say, ‘My gross receipts are down and if I file now then my spouse will get less’,” says Chemtob.

Super classy.

You can read more about the shady divorces of the rich, in more depth, here.

It’s always a messy business, but when there’s money in the mix it can get downright dirty.

[source:financialtimes]