For many couples, asset division is one of the most difficult parts of the divorce process. It is time consuming, emotionally draining, and can even cost a lot of money depending on how things go.
Do these matters worsen as assets grow higher? Or is this a simple myth?
Money-oriented arguments
Business Insider discusses situations that evoke arguments during divorce. Finances causing rifts during a marriage and well into the divorce process is nothing new. In fact, a majority of couples will fight at some point over financial matters, and it is the root cause of numerous divorces.
However, perhaps surprisingly, studies show that the rich actually fight less often than the “fighting class”, i.e. the upper-middle class. Couples with over $5 million in net worth tend to feel set for life. Thus, the desire to fight through proxies over money is less intense.
Many of these couples will undergo an amicable divorce. Those who do not tend to fight over non-material matters in person rather than through a proxy, usually to keep a position in the social hierarchy that they inhabit.
The “fighting class”
On the contrary, couples with $1 million to $5 million tend to fight often over their finances due to the fact that they are comfortable, but not set for life. This can create financial insecurity in the upwardly mobile.
Likewise, since many of these people remember life before they had this much money, they have a strong desire to not return to that point in time.
Thus, those who live comfortably may have more arguments and disputes than those who live richly.