I own a business which provides consulting services. Although my business has been lucrative, I don’t think anyone would buy it because without me, there is no business. Under these circumstances, would my wife have an equitable distribution interest in my business in the event of a divorce?
Business Valuation and Divorce
Is there any point in hiring a financial professional if the self-employed or business owner’s spouse is not being co-operative?
As an attorney, you have to do your due diligence. You can’t let someone get away with not being co-operative. I’ve had my forensic accountant and/or business appraiser tromping around on site, at whatever the location is, going through boxes and boxes of badly organized documents searching for the information that he needed to value […]
To save money, can a business owner use the company’s accountant, who is already very familiar with the business?
If both parties agree, yes. I had a case recently where the parties agreed to use the business accountant and the accountant came up with an amount of value for the business. Then one of the parties said, “Well I don’t like that number.” Then they hired a business appraiser. If both parties agree with […]
If one or both spouses own a business, is it always necessary to hire a business valuator?
You can have a business where somebody is a landscaper, and he goes around, has all these customers, and landscapes their yards, and they love them and he’s their best friend. Is somebody going to buy that business from him and pay anything for it? If he steps out of that business, would there be […]
What does “double dipping” mean in a divorce context, and why would this be a problem?
You’ve got a marital asset which is the business, and the business has a value. You’re counting that marital asset as property in the division of all of the property in the divorce case. You’re counting it once, and then you’re wanting spousal support, so you’re counting the business again because it has a stream […]
Is the business taken into account when it comes time for calculating child support?
Is the business taken into account when it comes time for calculating child support? For example, if the teenage children are driving company cars, have company cell phones, etc.
How is spousal support determined in divorce cases that involve a business?
Spousal support is based on, in any case, the income of both of the parties. The first thing is are both parties working? Is one party making more money than the other person? Those types of factors. That’s going to be the same in any case. But when it involves a business, you have to […]
How can you be sure that the spouse who has a cash-based business is telling you the truth about profits?
A lot of businesses are either cash-based or the books are not really that accurate, and you’re going to have to go into the tax return and look at the deductions and sort of add back in things like depreciation, car expenses, and who knows what. You’re really going to have to get a forensic […]
If a self-employed spouse is going through a divorce, are they going to get their share of the value of the business?
They would be getting their share if there is a value to the business. Are they going to get spousal support? If spousal support is an issue in the case because one of the parties doesn’t work or was working in the business and has to restart, they would get spousal support. There are a […]
What happens in a case where valuation of a family farm is needed?
I had a farm case like that very recently, and it had just those issues where my client was a peach farmer and he wanted to continue farming. His wife was going to take part of the land and be the one in charge of developing it. In most of the farm cases, there are […]
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