Assets and property abroad

When you’re getting divorced, assets and property held overseas can form part of the financial settlement. Just like assets and property in England & Wales, they can be considered within the ‘shared pot’ of assets that is shared between spouses when you get divorced.

You have to think about all of the assets that you have abroad, which may include:

• Property
• Foreign bank accounts
• Shares held overseas
• Business interests
• Offshore trusts

Whether you own it by yourself, jointly with your partner, or jointly with friends or family member, property overseas will still be relevant for the financial settlement.

The first step is to get a valuation. This can be more complicated than it sounds with fluctuating exchange rates and different valuation methods.

We have a network of experts overseas who can help us with valuations if we need to instruct them.

You may be suspicious that your spouse has foreign assets that they haven’t disclosed in your discussions about financial settlement.

If you think your spouse is hiding assets, then we can instruct forensic accountants to look into it. We’ll also make formal requests of their solicitor. If that goes nowhere, then we can ask the court to order your spouse to disclose the assets you think they’re hiding.

If you have a prenup or a postnup, then your assets abroad may be ring-fenced from the financial settlement on divorce. It depends upon the terms of the agreement.

You can ask us to draft a prenup or a postnup for you, if you’d like to invest in assets abroad and you don’t want them to become part of your matrimonial assets.