With the prevalence of cryptocurrency as part of the marital asset pool, family law courts now must increasingly deal with the treatment and actions required to prevent dissipation of assets by parties.

An Urgent Application to Freeze Crypto Assets

In Gotti & Gevorgyan (No 5) [2026] FedCFamC1F 262, an immediate freezing order was handed down on the basis of an urgent, ex parte application bought by the wife in lieu of cryptocurrency tracing and findings produced in an expert report.

The parties had been married for around a decade before separating in 2021 but had jointly engaged in cryptocurrency trading during the relationship. However, the husband allegedly took near-exclusive control of their digital assets and failed to provide full and frank disclosure of them, despite repeated court orders.

The Thread to Pull

After their separation, the wife discovered a slip of paper in the drawer of their former home. On it were a sequence of 24 words, written in the husband’s handwriting. Taking this information, the wife sought out a forensic cryptocurrency expert to delve further and investigate the nature of the wallet it was linked to.

Following the Digital Trail

The subsequent expert report findings provided heavy weighting to the freezing orders – further investigation conducted by the expert showed what appeared to be a network of previously undisclosed wallets and linked funding between these wallets and the husband’s SMSF and company. Furthermore, the expert report indicated that the husband retained significant cryptocurrency assets, the extent of which could not be fully determined.

Why Cryptocurrency Creates a Heightened Risk

In conjunction with the nature of cryptocurrency and its capacity to be moved instantly across jurisdictions, stored offline, and rendered permanently inaccessible if a seed phrase or private key is destroyed, the risk of irreversible dissipation is greatly heightened compared with conventional assets. It appears this was more than enough weighting for the issuance of search orders and freezing orders against the husband and related entities.

The Importance of Blockchain Forensic Evidence

In situations such as this, time is often of the essence and the engagement of an expert by the wife before seeking urgent relief was a key element to the court’s judgement and order. Qualified forensic cryptocurrency experts can not only provide a value of the assets, but actively trace wallets, exchanges, and fund flows to produce a court submissible expert report. Without the blockchain forensic evidence, this order likely would not have been handed down.

How Hall Chadwick Melbourne Can Assist

Hall Chadwick Melbourne has a specialised Blockchain division that provides blockchain forensic services such as wallet-to-wallet tracing, blockchain analysis and cryptocurrency valuation, along with blockchain related audit and insolvency services. Our forensic, valuation and litigation support services cover both commercial and family law disputes, and our expert reports have been submitted to Australian and international courts for ex parte applications, search and freezing orders and marital asset distribution.

If you are dealing with a family law or commercial dispute involving cryptocurrency or other digital assets requiring tracing, valuation and an expert report, Hall Chadwick Melbourne’s Blockchain team can assist. Please reach out to discuss your circumstances.

Mark Bailey
Director — Valuations & Forensic Accounting
E: mbailey@hallchadwickmelb.com.au
T: +61 3 9820 6400

Emma Sun
Data Analyst — Forensics | HC Blockchain
E: esun@hallchadwickmelb.com.au
T: +61 3 9820 6400

Disclaimer: This is not advice. You should not act solely on the basis of the material contained in this post. These are general comments only and do not constitute or convey advice per se. Also changes in legislation may occur quickly. We therefore recommend that our formal advice be sought before acting in any of these areas.