Investment News Features Marc Scudillo
In a recent article in Investment News—”The Gates divorce: Lessons for financial advisers”—Marc Scudillo weighed in on the issue of how advisers should prepare for divorce between high-net worth couples.
From the article:
The Melinda and Bill Gates divorce will mark one of the largest division of assets by a couple at an estimated $146 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The split of the Gateses’ assets falls just behind the approximate $157 billion breakup of Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott.
While advisers’ married clients won’t be billionaires on the scale of the Gateses or Bezoses, there are common threads for all families going through a divorce: the need for privacy and the opportunity to heal and move forward personally and financially.
Advisers should note that no matter how stable a relationship may seem, contingencies should be baked into estate and financial plans in case of divorce, especially for wealthy clients, experts say.
One of those experts was Marc Scudillo.
“The big takeaway: Divorces are emotional events, and advisers need to manage those emotions and help clients to focus on the strategies and tasks that will yield the best results for achieving their goals and their best financial life,” said Marc Scudillo, managing officer of EisnerAmper Wealth Management and Corporate Benefits.
DIVISION OF ASSETS
“For many divorcing couples, the challenge is not so much the process of splitting the assets but determining how they are to be split between the two parties,” Scudillo said. “It can be especially difficult in a case like the Gateses, whose assets will include billions worth of Microsoft stock and hundreds of millions in real estate, in addition to collectibles like cars, books and artwork, and holding companies.”
“Updated valuations for each asset will be needed, followed by the paperwork and filings to appropriately split the assets in accordance with the final divorce decree,” he said. “There will also be significant time devoted to follow-up and providing information and guidance during the process to ensure that everything is done accurately.”
Read the entire article here:
https://www.investmentnews.com/the-gates-divorce-lessons-for-financial-advisers-206165
