Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code and New Hampshire resident, is being sued by his former wife for allegedly spending marital assets on gifts for a woman with whom he was having an affair. She also accuses Brown of hiding several sources of income from her during their divorce. It appears millions of dollars could be at stake in this lawsuit.
Accused of hiding jobs, spending money on an affair
Brown’s wife filed for divorce in 2018. Among other things, she is accusing Brown of failing to disclose several profitable projects to her. These include a theatrical series starring the protagonist from The Da Vinci Code, several planned sequels to that novel, a children’s book, and a music project. The former wife says that she contributed heavily to the plots of Brown’s books while they were married.
In addition, she claims that Brown conducted an affair and spent significant marital assets on the woman. This included buying several horses for the woman, who is a horse trainer.
When high net worth people get divorced
Accusations of hidden assets are not uncommon when wealthy couples get divorced, especially when one spouse was the primary or sole breadwinner. The spouse who did not directly contribute to the household income will likely wish to maintain their lifestyle as much as possible. That means getting the complete picture of what the marital assets are. It can also mean disagreements over what are marital and what nonmarital assets.
These disagreements can drag out for years if not handled properly, and lead to post-divorce order litigation, like in the Brown case. The best way to avoid this is to retain the services of a divorce attorney experienced with handling complex property division for wealthy clients. A solid settlement or trial verdict on asset division is likely to stand up in the future and help you avoid having to revisit the matter someday.
