A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inner Wealth Newsletter, Robert Frank is a weekly guide for high-net-worth investors and consumers. Sign up to receive future versions directly to your inbox. Last week, Dan Rottensteich’s law firm got an unusual case. A woman came to the company to ask for a divorce attorney. Like most Rottenstreich’s clients, the woman and her husband are rich. Unlike most of his clients, their wealth comes from cryptocurrencies. The husband started a cryptocurrency company, and Roton Stridge said its assets are held in offshore trusts and crypto wallets — and the wife needs help finding them. “We will have to go back in time and find the transfer to the digital exchange, bring crypto forensics, find the wallets, find out how the transactions evolve over time,” said Rottenstreich Farley Bronstein Bronstein Fisher Fisher Potter Hodas hodastreich. LLP (referred to as RFB+Fisher Potter Hodas). “We do what we always do. We follow this money.” That money has become more difficult than ever when it comes to a wealthy divorce. As fate sizes and numbers surge today, they have also expanded their complexity. Offshore outsourcing, owning companies, highly specialized trusts and exotic jurisdictions around the world make it nearly impossible for everyone except the most complex financial experts to find marital assets. That’s where RFB+Fisher Potter Hodas came in. Founded in 2023, it was a merger of two marriage law firms (one in New York and one in Palm Beach, Florida) and it quickly grew into the most expensive one-stop shop for divorce today. The company’s team of 40 lawyers includes former government prosecutors, trial attorneys, commercial litigants, and trust and real estate experts, many of which come from top law schools and blue chip companies. Rottenstreich and partner Jeff Fisher believe that the goal is to bring divorce law into the modern era of wealth. “Wealth is completely different now, and so are cases,” Fisher said. “They are bigger and more complex. We have some cases with a million documents.” The story behind the new law firm and its clients reflects the story behind the new law firm and its clients. The rapid development of wealth over the past two decades. Fisher was one of the founding partners, initially an assistant U.S. attorney for Southern Florida, prosecuting drug and bank fraud cases in Miami in the early 1980s. Later, he moved to Palm Beach and began taking divorce cases, representing the highly-watched divorce between Angela Koch and Bill Koch. Over time, his company (called Fisher & Bendeck then) grew into 10 lawyers and rose by the fate and divorce of the Palm Beach elite. He handled the divorce from the packaging King and “Burger-Box Tillionaire” Robert Dart and many other Ariane Dart that he couldn’t name, “because we always promise confidentiality.” The business is good, but his company has problems. His cases are growing, but it’s hard for him to recruit top legal professionals to deal with the burden. Marriage law has the stigma of the 1980s and 1990s, when lawyers were considered to be nothing more than negotiators for a care or child support. “We have a lot of demand, but there is no supply,” he said. Meanwhile, the demographics of wealth are changing. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Palm Beach’s wealth came primarily from heritage or publicly traded stocks, with founders and CEOs. After the 2008 financial crisis, the bull market and asset boom created a huge fate for technology, private equity, venture capital and private startups. Wealth is getting younger, globally – increasingly opaque. Although the assets of a publicly traded company’s CEO are relatively easy to crack and diversify – he retained $20 million in GE stock, she obtained the Hampton house and $10 million in Picasso – the world’s super-rich new variety makes money from Secret hedge funds, PE companies and private companies, with little public data. Fisher began to think about how he could expand to attract more legal talent and better serve new clients. In 2017, he divorced Linda Macklowe on behalf of developer Harry Macklowe, which centered on the couple’s $1 billion art collection. Despite the fierce dispute in court, Fisher had a friendly conversation with Harry’s attorney, Dan Rottenstreich. Rottenstreich, who represented Georgina Chapman in divorce from Harvey Weinstein and Caryl Englander, hedge against Kidd Israeli English $1 billion divorce. Rottenstreich and Fisher met many of the same people throughout their careers, and after the trial they began to talk about their own companies. “We came up with this concept to merge the company, have an interstate presence and serve customers better,” Fisher said. “I like that guy. And it’s seamless.” The business thrives. According to Forbes, the number of billionaires in the world has almost doubled in the past decade to more than 2,800. The number of people worth $30 million or more has exceeded 426,000. As Fisher said, “More wealth means more divorce.” Meanwhile, the number of so-called grey divorces or divorces involving older couples has increased, in part because of the spouses of Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. “They removed the stigma of the rich and divorce,” Fisher said. “The Old Wealth once said, ‘I have an image to maintain.’ With the gate and Bezos it was eroded.” Fisher said. Florida’s high net worth divorces also soared due to large-scale wealth migrations during archipelago from the Northeast and California. The company recently opened a new office in Miami. However, discovering the great destiny today has never been more difficult. In one case, the company is working, led by founding partner John Farley, California software tycoon, who moved to India in 2020 and filed for divorce. Zoho, co-founder of cloud software company Zoho, the entrepreneur of Indian-born Sridhar Vembu, has made a series of deals in India, which his ex-wife says reduces marital property (Vembu denies). None of the lawyers involved commented on the case, but the public court application shows that it involves private holding companies in the United States, Singapore and India and operates around the world. Trust in divorce lawyers has become a constant challenge. Nevada and Wyoming are increasingly creating, which makes it almost impossible for former spouses to collect or peers in certain asset protection trusts. “Everyone seems to be using Wyoming right now,” Rotton Stridge said. “There is no doubt that trust is used to protect assets.” Another situation the company is looking at involves social influencers and internet personality. Rottenstreich said that while they can’t reveal any name, the company must value the Internet business with cash flow models and growth rates. The range, he said, “may be between $100 million and $1 billion.” They also try to value influencers’ online followers because they are often used to generate sales. “Social media accounts with millions of followers are a wealth. So, how do you think of them?” He said, “As the growing global life of wealth and more, jumping from one country to another, often in With multiple citizenship and homes around the world, the company must also work with different jurisdictions. Fisher said he is working with the American ex-wife of a French billionaire who wants to comply with his daughter’s custody. He had to drive international law to fine his ex-husband $700,000 a week until his daughter returns. Finally, the lawyer says the most important thing is to mentor clients during the most stressful and emotional periods of their lives. “Hard cases are the best place for us to work,” Rotton Stridge said. “Because they trust us. A lot of psychology is involved.”
From left to right: Jeffrey Fisher, Zachary Potter, John Farley, Dan Rottenstreich, and Benjamin Hodas, and the front: Rottenstreich Farley Bronstein Bronstein Fisher Fisher Potter Hodas Llp’s Peter Peter Bronstein.
Courtesy: RFB+ Fisher Potter Hodas
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inner Wealth Newsletter, Robert Frank is a weekly guide for high-net-worth investors and consumers. Sign up To receive future versions, go directly to your inbox.
Last week, Dan Rottensteich’s law firm got an unusual case.
