Crider v. Crider, 2014 Ind. App. LEXIS 416 (Aug. 26, 2014) In a recent divorce case involving a series of family businesses in which the husband owned interests, the trial court faced considerable hurdles to arrive at a valuation of the marital estate. A small army of experts gave conflicting opinions on how to account  Continue Reading »

Ward v. Ward, 2014 W.Va. LEXIS 128 (Feb. 14, 2014) In a divorce case, the husband appealed to the state’s highest court, arguing that the lower courts accepted a valuation of his business interest that did not reflect the company as it was on the valuation date. Rather, he said, the valuation was set by  Continue Reading »

Hamelink v. Hamelink, 2014 Minn. App. Unpub. LEXIS 1175 (Dec. 30, 2013) Since Bernier v. Bernier, a Massachusetts divorce case in which the state’s highest court required that a valuation for equitable distribution purposes use a hybrid tax-affecting model to account for an S corporation owner’s personal taxes on company profits, few marriage-dissolution decisions have  Continue Reading »

Hill v. Hill, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 292 (Jan. 9, 2014) What happens to the commercial goodwill of a big accounting firm when a principal gets divorced? In a recent Texas appeals case, the wife accused the trial court of failing to account for commercial goodwill in valuing the subject interest by relying on a  Continue Reading »

Sparks v. Sparks, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 1421 (Nov. 26, 2013) As the husband pursued a divorce, he thought it necessary to sell part of his animal hospital to comply with any upcoming equalization payment order and procured a valuation. The trial court stayed the sale during the litigation but credited the valuation even though  Continue Reading »

Gentile v. Gentile, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 5051 (March 13, 2013) In appealing the fair market value determination of his medical practice, the husband claimed that the trial court erred when it included goodwill as a divisible asset and that its conclusion had no support in the record. The husband, a successful plastic surgeon, was  Continue Reading »

Sharp v. Sharp, 2013 Neb. App. LEXIS 58 (April 9, 2013) One of the principal issues in this divorce case was the trial court’s valuation of two medical practices in which the husband had varying interests. On appeal, the husband objected that one valuation wrongly included personal goodwill and the other a “mathematical error” as  Continue Reading »

Farrell v. Farrell, 2013 Ark. App. LEXIS 33 (Jan. 23, 2013) The wife appealed the trial court’s decision to assign all interest in the family businesses to the husband, which, she claimed, left her with a shortfall of $4.4 million. The husband owned a 19.4% interest in two sets of closely held family businesses. The  Continue Reading »

Russell v. Russell, 2013 Ark. App. LEXIS 151 (Feb. 27, 2013) The husband challenged the trial court’s valuation of a family business, claiming there was no credible evidence to show it had a “fair market value” independent of the company’s founder—his stepfather. At divorce, the husband and wife agreed on the division of all property  Continue Reading »