As millennials are beginning to divorce in larger numbers, the marital estate is growing as well. For this new generation of divorcees, the hot topic is digital assets and income streams and their inclusion into the Alexandria, Virginia, marital estate.
Digital assets and income streams
Digital assets refer to non-fungible tokens (commonly known as NFTs), cryptocurrencies, etc. Digital income streams refer to income that is derived from online sources, like social media influence, website traffic, etc.
Volatile, unregulated and profitable
Digital assets and income streams are volatile, profitable and largely unregulated (or loosely regulated, depending on the nature of the digital income stream). This can make them complicated to split in a divorce as their value could dramatically change from the beginning of the divorce process to the end.
For example, a divorce a few months ago could have seen the couple’s Bitcoin wealth drop by more than half in less than a month. If one spouse was electing to take their share of the marital estate in Bitcoin, rather than hard assets, like the family home, this dramatic drop would definitely affect that ongoing divorce.
Valuations
For digital assets, there is often no longstanding value. For example, an expert can give an insurance valuation of a painting, but a newly minted NFT may not be so easily valued. And, while a blue-chip stock’s value may not dramatically change over time, crypto volatility can increase or decrease the value of a coin by 50% overnight. This makes valuations much harder than traditional assets.
This is also true of digital income streams, especially when they rely on the work of one spouse. If an influencer makes six figures this year, they may make more or less next year based on their own efforts. This is different from a traditional job, and there is also no accompanying degree that a judge can assign value. As such, valuing digital income streams can be similarly complicated in an Alexandria, Virginia, divorce.
Easiest way
The easiest way to deal with digital assets is to sell them during the divorce, but it is likely that one or both spouses will want to ride the crypto waves. This is why marriages increasingly need digital asset experts to properly value the Alexandria, Virginia, marital estate.
