I came across an article titled Divorce is a surprisingly common reason why the super-rich hide their money offshore that gives some insight into the way the ultra rich of the world handle the most honest part of the institution of marriage, that is, divorce. The article states the following (emphasis mine).

The recent Panama Papers leak revealed how global elites use offshore companies to avoid paying taxes, but that isn’t the only reason they’re sheltering their wealth. The rich are also sending money abroad to keep it away from their future exes.

“Every now and then I get a call from someone saying, ‘I’m thinking about getting a divorce in five years. Can you help me protect my assets in case I get one?'” said Randall Kessler, an Atlanta divorce lawyer and former chair of the Family Law Section of the American Bar Association. “That presents us with a problem.”

Kessler said he doesn’t help clients hide their money offshore. After all, it’s illegal to help someone evade taxes or conceal their assets from a judge in the event of a divorce.

But unscrupulous lawyers will do so, the Panama Papers showed. The 11.5 million documents leaked to the press from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca detail numerous examples of high-fliers seeking to make sure their soon-to-be ex-wives and husbands don’t obtain half of their fortunes after a breakup.

“For decades, spouses — nearly always male and part of the global One Percent — have solicitekd Mossack Fonseca to help shield assets from soon-to-be exes,” says a report from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, or ICIJ, the American group that coordinated a worldwide effort to report on the Panama Papers. “Mossack Fonseca has agreed with little hesitation.”

Mossack Fonseca representatives told the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung that they “regret any misuse of the companies we create or services we offer. Wherever possible we take steps to either uncover or stop such misuse.”

The case of Dmitri Rybolovlev, a mining magnate whom Forbes listed as the 148th richest man in the world, is the perhaps most spectacular of the examples related to divorce in the Panama Papers.

His wife Elena filed for divorce in 2008 after a 23 year marriage during which the couple amassed a gargantuan fortune including assets such as a $60 million yacht named My Anna, an $88 million penthouse in New York City, and paintings by Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, and other famous artists, the outlets reported.

A network of offshore companies had been set up by the couple, including Xitrans Finance Ltd — a firm incorporated in the British Virgin Islands by Mossack Fonseca which bought and stored art works and antique Parisian furniture worth $650 million. According to court documents emailed to Mossack Fonseca in January 2009, as the marriage broke down Rybolovlev used Xitrans Finance to move some of the luxury items out of Switzerland, where the couple lived. Under Swiss law, she would be entitled to half their fortune — but only that which the court knew about.

Rybolovlev was also the only shareholder in Xitrans Finance, despite the company being held by the Rybolovlev family trust and despite Elena’s claim that Xitrans bought assets “on behalf of herself and her husband,” wrote the ICIJ.

A Swiss court ordered Rybolovlev to pay Elena $4.5 billion last year, which was later reportedly slashed to $600 million. The courts never determined if Rybolovleva was committing fraud by hiding assets in divorce proceedings. In a statement following the Panama Papers release, Rybolovlev family’s lawyer said the description of the divorce in the Panama Papers reporting was misleading and his client “has never used any offshore entity to conceal any assets.”