Section 1782: A Powerful U.S. Discovery Tool for UHNW Family Disputes

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For ultra-high-net-worth (“UHNW”) individuals and family offices, disputes rarely respect national borders. A family’s wealth may be held through trusts, investment vehicles, operating companies, banks and custodians located in several jurisdictions. When a dispute arises—whether involving divorce, succession, shareholder rights or fraud—critical evidence may sit in the United States even though the underlying proceeding is elsewhere.

Section 1782 can provide foreign counsel with a valuable mechanism for accessing that evidence.

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What is Section 1782?

Section 1782 permits a U.S. federal district court to order a person or entity “reside[d] or found” in the United States to provide testimony or produce documents for use in a foreign proceeding. The application may be made by a foreign tribunal or by an “interested person.”

Where can Section 1782 help UHNW clients in family disputes?

1. Tracing assets in cross-border disputes

UHNW disputes frequently involve complex ownership structures. A foreign proceeding may reveal that an individual or family office has interests in U.S. companies, investment funds, trusts, real estate structures or other vehicles, but the foreign court may have limited ability to compel evidence from U.S.-based third parties.

Section 1782 can potentially be used to seek records from those third parties—including financial institutions, corporate service providers, accountants, investment professionals and other custodians of relevant information—provided the statutory requirements and discretionary considerations are satisfied. Of particular importance in such cases, discovery can be obtained from correspondent banks—banks that act as intermediaries for any USD transactions.

This can be particularly useful in proceedings focused on asset-tracing and recovery, where the objective is to establish where assets went, who controlled them, and whether transactions were undertaken through related entities or intermediaries.

2. International divorce and matrimonial proceedings

Section 1782 can be particularly useful in high-value matrimonial disputes involving assets or financial information in the United States. Courts have permitted Section 1782 discovery in connection with foreign proceedings concerning the division of marital property.

For those involved in divorce proceedings involving cross-border assets, the potential value is straightforward: evidence concerning U.S.-based accounts, entities, investments or transactions may be obtainable through U.S. judicial process even where the foreign court itself cannot directly compel the relevant U.S. custodian. Sometimes, the foreign tribunal itself will make the request with the assistance of the United States Attorney's Office; other times, the individuals will be petitioning the U.S. courts for this information.

For example, in In re SHCHEGOLEVA, No. 25-CV-23858, 2026 WL 2546065 (S.D. Fla. Aug. 28, 2026), the Court allowed discovery of U.S.-based financial records and witnesses necessary to demonstrate the falsity of the spouses' statements in a Spanish divorce proceedings. The discovery sought not only documents and testimony from wealth managers and documents regarding the value of the spouses' interests in a U.S.-based business, but also documents from the spouses' U.S.-based alleged mistress to evaluate and quantify the potential waste of marital property. Other cases, such as In re Glozman, No. 25-MC-24525, 2026 WL 291008 (S.D. Fla. Feb. 4, 2026), involve spouses seeking documents from U.S.-based financial institutions due to their former spouse's "systematic scheme to conceal and divert marital property,” which involved creating “offshore corporate structures and trusts in opaque jurisdictions” and transferring or dissipating cash and other assets. Section 1782 helped these petitioners gain transparency in those proceedings.

Petitions the foreign tribunal itself initiated are nevertheless helpful in informing future applications by private individuals, as they show (1) a particular tribunal's receptivity to evidence gathered through Section 1782; and (2) the type of informations foreign tribunals find helpful in divorce proceedings.

3. Trust, succession and family disputes

Family offices frequently involve sophisticated estate-planning structures spanning multiple jurisdictions. Disputes concerning beneficial ownership, succession, fiduciary conduct or the administration of family wealth may therefore require evidence from U.S. trustees, advisers, companies or financial institutions.

Where a qualifying foreign proceeding exists, Section 1782 may provide a means of obtaining evidence from those U.S.-based actors. For example, in In re Zarzur, No. 22 MISC. 348 (AT) (SN), 2025 WL 1101475 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 14, 2025), the Court allowed a petitioner who was involved in multiple probate proceedings abroad to seek discovery from financial institutions located within this District concerning her father's assets and his companies, despite her brothers' opposition.

What foreign counsel should consider at the outset

Section 1782 requires that petitioners meet three basic statutory requirements: (1) the person from whom discovery is sought must reside or be found in the relevant U.S. district; (2) the discovery must be for use in a proceeding before a foreign tribunal; and (3) the applicant must be the foreign tribunal or an “interested person.” 

Even where those requirements are met, however, discovery is discretionary. U.S. courts consider, among other things, (1) whether the target is a participant in the foreign proceeding, (2) the nature and receptivity of the foreign tribunal, (3) whether the application attempts to circumvent foreign proof-gathering restrictions, and (4) whether the proposed discovery is unduly intrusive or burdensome.

Accordingly, foreign counsel should involve U.S. counsel early. A successful application generally benefits from a clearly defined foreign proceeding, a precise explanation of why the requested evidence is relevant, identification of the U.S. custodian, and carefully tailored requests.

A strategic tool for international wealth disputes

For foreign lawyers advising UHNW individuals and family offices, § 1782 is best viewed as part of the international litigation toolkit, rather than as a substitute for the discovery procedures of the foreign court. Its practical significance is that the U.S. court system can sometimes provide access to evidence that is otherwise difficult—or impossible—to obtain through the foreign proceeding itself, such as banking information. In a high-value dispute involving hidden assets, complex family structures, U.S. investments or transactions passing through American intermediaries, that evidentiary advantage can materially affect the ability to understand and litigate the underlying dispute.

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