A question presented in a Wisconsin case could have a far-reaching impact on divorce valuation; should salable (transferrable) personal goodwill remain in the marital estate in a divorce? The Supreme Court of Wisconsin upheld both its lower and appellate courts in this particular case. The case allowed salable personal goodwill to remain in the marital  Continue Reading »

Cash is the most difficult item to trace when a bankruptcy or divorce case involves embezzlement, fraud, defalcation, or hidden assets. It’s interchangeable and leaves no record of ownership or transfer if kept outside of the banking system. It’s very rare that we keep track of the serial numbers on our currency. Converting Stolen Cash into  Continue Reading »

It’s often necessary to uncover money during legal proceedings like divorce or bankruptcy, by conducting a financial investigation to expose hidden assets, fraud or embezzlement. Unfortunately, the paper trail of hidden assets isn’t always clear and it takes a specialist to track it down. For example, a typical ploy is to pay personal bills using  Continue Reading »

Determining the value of the business interest to include in the marital estate can be one of the most time-consuming and contentious issues when a business owner is getting a divorce. Rather than hire separate experts to argue it out in court, many spouses opt to hire one joint appraisal expert. Benefits for Both Spouses Here  Continue Reading »

Berg v. Young, 2015 Fla. App., LEXIS 13077 (Sept. 2, 2015) In a Florida divorce case, the trial court heard copious expert testimony on the value of the husband’s interest in a car dealership. The dispute turned on the validity and interpretation of the parties’ prenuptial agreement; a secondary issue was how to treat any  Continue Reading »

If divorcing spouses own part of the stock in a closely held corporation, this may be one of their biggest marital assets, and often one spouse decides to buy out the other party’s shares by transferring some assets in exchange for the stock. However, it’s important to consider the expected tax consequences before jumping into these  Continue Reading »

In re Marriage of Hartung, 2015 Iowa App. LEXIS 688 (Aug. 5, 2015) Valuation methodology also was at the center of an Iowa divorce case in which the trial court found one method entirely inappropriate for the situation at hand and the other flawed in the way the expert applied it. Notwithstanding the trial court’s  Continue Reading »

A covenant not to compete prevents the seller from competing in the same industry for a specified time period and within a specified geographic range, and on the part of the seller, is similar to title insurance to the buyer of the business. In this sense, it protects the buyer from the loss of value tied to  Continue Reading »

K.T. v. M.T., 2015 Tex. App., LEXIS 8558 (Aug. 13, 2015) Can a solo practice have commercial goodwill, and how do fair market value and the notion of a covenant not to compete (CNTC) fit into the picture? A recent Texas divorce case raised all of these questions and resulted in a predictable outcome. Non-transferable  Continue Reading »

In divorce cases it’s common for an interest in a closely held business or professional practice to be the marital estate’s most valuable asset. In many states, a valuator may be called upon to distinguish between active appreciation in the business’s value (which is generally subject to division) and passive appreciation (which generally isn’t) when the  Continue Reading »