If you do not personally invest in cryptocurrency, then it is likely that at this point you have friends, family members or colleagues who do. Cryptocurrencies have risen from a very niche market to almost completely mass and have done so in a very short period of time. Now that they are so ubiquitous, there is a new question to deal with, and that is the question of how cryptocurrencies are handled in the divorce process.
The determination and distribution of financial assets, as well as the determination of maintenance payments, are central issues that need to be addressed during most divorce proceedings. There are many tools available to a lawyer to disclose financial assets, but when you combine bitcoin and divorce, you are left with something completely new.
Dealing with bitcoin and divorce is different from dealing with other financial assets for several major reasons. One is the pure instability of their value. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are known to fluctuate in absolute value, both up and down. Therefore, the value must either continue to be tracked and updated on the go, or set at a time when it may end up costing something very different in the future. In both cases, this is less than the ideal circumstance for determining and allocating assets or determining maintenance.
Another key issue that needs to be understood between cryptocurrency and divorce is that these markets and their transactions are designed to be both anonymous and secure. Searching for cash, accounts or transactions of an individual is not the same as searching for a bank account, retirement account or stock portfolio. Traceability of a person’s crypto accounts will be difficult at best, and it remains unclear whether or not the courts place any right of subpoena behind it.
Obviously, this is just the beginning of the issue of bitcoin and divorce, because all cryptocurrencies are still on the rise. As more and more people start or continue to use them and they become more common and accepted, the way they are treated as financial assets during divorce proceedings will continue to be in the spotlight. The fact that they rose so fast in the beginning has left many people unprepared today for how to treat them in such matters. Keep in mind that Bitcoin was launched less than a decade ago.
As always, be sure to consult an experienced professional in your area. Although there is still much uncertainty about how bitcoin and divorce will be treated and what types of solutions may await us in the future, an experienced divorce lawyer will be able to guide you through the process and offer you an insight into the areas of financial discovery and all. aspects of pending case.