One of the best times to pause and review your financial planning strategy is Fall. A lot can happen in a year. You may need to revise your long-term financial plans if your personal life, market conditions or tax laws have changed. Here are some retirement and estate planning considerations that may be worthwhile. Roth  Continue Reading »

In re Mercury Cos., 2015 Bank. LEXIS 3443 (Oct. 9, 2015) (In re Mercury II) After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the plaintiff claimed the sale of certain subsidiaries to the defendant entities was an avoidable fraudulent transfer. The Bankruptcy Court considered the valuations the parties’ experts presented at trial for the subsidiaries “useful but  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 »

Business valuation experts who testify in court are often asked, “Did you follow appraisal standards in performing your engagement?” The next question is likely to be: “Which ones?” There are a number of different standards that cover business appraisal practice. USPAP Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) is one of the most widely recognized standards.  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 »

When selling a business, did you know there are some buyers who would be willing to pay a premium above the fair market value of the business on a controlling basis? These are strategic (or synergistic) buyers, and might include competitors looking to build market share, joint venture partners who already understand the business model  Continue Reading »

Guardian Energy, LLC v. County of Waseca, 2015 Minn. LEXIS 437 (Aug. 12, 2015) Quantifying external obsolescence (EO) poses a challenge even for experienced appraisers. No wonder the Minnesota tax court recently got into trouble when it rejected the analyses of the experts and created its own methodology. Assessment dispute: The owner of an ethanol  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 »

Shaffer v. Visaggio’s, Inc., 2015 Pa. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 2403 (July 29, 2015)  A Pennsylvania dissenting shareholder case raised questions about who is qualified to resolve valuation issues as well as what constitutes competent financial evidence. Valuators may find the dissent’s analysis more compelling than the majority’s opinion because it displays a greater appreciation of  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 »