Sydney Family Lawyer Alerts to Problem of Cryptocurrency in Divorce Settlements

Cryptocurrency: a part of 21st Century life accelerating into the mainstream, and into property settlements.

Sydney, Australia – March 31, 2018 /PressCable/ —

Assets in family law disputes generally comprise property, superannuation and investments such as shares. Investments, however, can also include cryptocurrencies, and this creates new problems in the domain of family law.

Cryptocurrencies are virtual currencies that work within a decentralised network. They act like digital cash. The first and most well-known cryptocurrency is Bitcoin.

Like cash, cryptocurrency is notoriously difficult to monitor, can be hard to find, is unregulated and can be used anonymously.

“There are no precedents to look to as examples of how to manage cryptocurrency in Australian family law proceedings, but it’s clear that it could definitely pose some new problems,” says Hayder Shkara of Sydney firm Justice Family Lawyers

Property disputes rely on both parties’ disclosure of their financial situations, both assets and liabilities such as mortgages and credit card debts. As cryptocurrency transactions are so easily kept anonymous, non-disclosure of assets is quite possible and uniquely difficult to prove.

Even if a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin is legitimately declared as an asset, the issues do not stop. Part of the nature of cryptocurrencies is their extreme volatility as their value comes entirely from supply and demand.

This is problematic in the calculation of matrimonial property.

“In property settlements, you look at the total value of the couple’s assets, as well as the contributions each party has made. When we’re looking at something as volatile as cryptocurrency, it can be really difficult to determine a fixed value to use as the basis in a dispute, especially since proceedings often last for a long period of time,” says Mr Shkara.

There is constant speculation about the place of cryptocurrency in the future of finance. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies may well be the main assets considered in divorce settlements in a few decades’ time, or even less.

“This is a part of modern life that the law hasn’t caught up with yet. Cryptocurrency will definitely be interesting to keep an eye on.” says Mr Shkara.

Contact Info:
Name: Mr Hayder Shkara
Organization: Justice Family Lawyers
Address: Level 21 133 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
Phone: +61-2-8089-3148

For more information, please visit https://justicefamilylawyers.com.au

Source: PressCable

Release ID: 323305