Court approves expert’s use of “rules of thumb”
Most courts have expected expert witnesses to provide documents “comparables” when calculating the value of a business in dispute. So it’s noteworthy that a source which averages “rules of thumb” multiples by industry has just been accepted in a recent California divorce. In the case, a joint expert valued the husband’s physical therapy practice [...]
California’s “double dipping” legislation changes groundrules for divorce attorneys
BVR has released a new training pak on Asset or Income? Double Dipping in Divorce, which discusses how to recognize the possible double-counting of income and assets, and how different jurisdictions have tried to resolve the continuing quandary. The issue has received more attention since California Senator Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) sponsored a bill, SB 481, regarding the [...]
Majority rule on goodwill in divorce is ‘mistaken’
Nearly a year ago, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals broke new ground in divorce law when it held that all the saleable personal goodwill in a professional practice, as evidenced by a non-compete agreement, is a divisible marital asset. (See BVWire #96-2) The husband appealed, and in McReath v. McReath, 2011 WL 2706249 (July 12, [...]
Divorce goodwill, and healthcare lost profits lead BVR’s training calendar this week and next
Join attorney Andrew Soshnick (Baker Daniels) and valuation expert James Alerding (Clifton Gunderson) for “Goodwill in Divorce” on Thursday, July 14. This 100-minute webinar will address the many problem areas in what has long been one of the most difficult part of any valuation for martial dissolution purposes: the allocation of personal versus entity goodwill. [...]
At least in the PA divorce courts, the tax-effecting question is clear
Balicki v. Balicki, 2010 PA. Super. 134 (July 30, 2010) In 2005, the Pennsylvania legislature amended the state’s Divorce Code, adding two specific considerations in the family courts’ equitable division of property: The Federal, State, and local tax ramifications associated with each asset to be divided, distributed, or assigned, which ramifications need not be immediate [...]
More problems using preliminary valuations in divorce
Attorneys and their cash-strapped family law clients frequently ask business appraisers to perform preliminary valuations “just for settlement purposes.” These requests often catch your expert between a rock (limited client funds for valuing a smaller business) and a hard place (limited evidentiary weight accorded to a preliminary calculation of value). The recent Hagar case shows [...]
New cases added to Business Valuation Law
These new cases and others are being added to the Business Valuation Law database this week: Wilson v. Wilson, 2010 WL 4723461 (W. Va.)(Sept. 21, 2010) West Virginia Supreme Court finds that construction management fees, conditioned on completion of a project, are analogous to attorney contingency fee contracts and subject to same rules of equitable [...]
Divorce court limits personal goodwill value to non-compete
In the third case in as many months to decide the value of a dental practice in divorce (see BVWire # 96-2 and BVWire #96-4), the Ohio Court of Appeals just considered the effect of the sale of the practice during the proceedings. For reasons the court does not detail, the husband sold his solo [...]
Key job of expert is to educate you on subjective elements in opponents’ valuation reports
“Measuring active and passive appreciation in separate property remains a complicated issue in divorce matters,” Stacy Collins (Financial Research Associates) told the audience last week at the BVR/Morningstar 3rd Annual Summit on Business Valuation in Divorce. That’s why “to be effective as an expert make sure you support your subjective conclusions,” added Mark Sobel (Greenbaum [...]
Patient records are ‘professional goodwill,’ despite non-compete
Remember our recent report on McReath v. McReath, in which we said the Wisconsin Court of Appeals may have just revised the majority rule on the disposition of private practice goodwill to say that all salable goodwill is a marital asset, subject to division, whether corporate or professional. Further, a non-competition agreement can serve as [...]
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