(0:00 – 0:18)
Hi, everyone. I’m Dr. Michael Mantell, and privileged to be joining Bonnie Rabinovitch-Mantel, who is the owner and managing partner of the Primus Family Law Group, a family-oriented firm where experience meets results. Hi, Bonnie.

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Hi, Michael. How are you today? I’m doing well. Bonnie, we have been hearing more and more about the shape of our economy, and you listen to some people, and it’s going down, and you listen to other people, it’s going up.

(0:32 – 0:52)
There are a lot of people around who have high asset portfolios who are trying to protect that, especially in the breakup of a family, and this is a big concern. It’s a big issue. I know you take care of people in divorce who have high asset portfolios.

(0:53 – 1:16)
Can you tell us a few of the things that they need to be particularly concerned about protecting their share of that? Well, that’s a good point, Michael. It’s their share. Now, you know, a lot of people have marriages where one person focuses on business or takes care of the business, and another person either has another business or a job or is a stay-at-home person.

(1:18 – 2:00)
And usually, the person who is working the business feels a little bit entitled to the earnings and profits and appreciation of that business because they’ve worked it. So what these people who have these higher assets need to understand is a good attorney will be able to facilitate the understanding as to what is that person’s separate property share. Example, if it was started before the marriage, if it was continued after the separation, and what is the community share? Another thing that people with high assets need to understand is our judicial officers often don’t like math.

(2:01 – 2:47)
And I know a lot of eyes are popping, well, what do you mean? They make all the decisions, uh-huh, but they do not like math. And people often go to law school, which is considered an art, because math is a science and you don’t want to do math. So it is really, really important for these clients, for these parties who have this kind of wealth or complications of how they got their wealth to have an attorney who understands those intricacies, who can then explain it to a judicial officer who wants to do their job really well, but may not have the skill set to comprehend all of that.

(2:48 – 3:29)
And that’s why in these cases, Michael, there are often experts appointed so that we can determine income available for support, or we can determine the community share of a business. There are actually people that, as attorneys, we even farm this out to, to help us so that we can then help the judge understand what, how this should be properly divided. And maybe perhaps what negotiations can be done to give the person who worked this all maybe more of that business or those portfolio assets and buying out the other party from their share.

(3:30 – 3:55)
It’s all about what people are going to be willing to agree to, and it’s all about having an attorney who really understands these intricacies. You provide very sophisticated client services in matrimonial and family issues. And I imagine, especially when it comes to particularly high asset, some of the celebrity families you may work with and so forth, that this becomes even more important.

(3:56 – 4:30)
So if people have a question, they want to tap your brain, you know, test you out, see if it’s going to work for them, how can they be in touch with you? They can always reach me directly at 619-574-8000 and my wonderful staff will put you on my calendar for a free 30 minute phone or zoom consultation. Or you can check us out online, www.PrimusFamilyLaw.com. And there is a form you can fill out and a live chat agent, all roads lead to getting you on one of our calendars. That’s terrific, Bonnie.

(4:30 – 4:37)
Thank you very much for touching on this topic. I know it’s one that concerns many, many people. Thank you very much.

(4:37 – 4:42)
We’ll see you next time for another Family Law Matters. Thank you, Michael. Have a great day.

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