The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly every facet of life — including our relationships. Some reports indicated the stress of the crisis, combined with people’s close and constant contact with their spouse might be to blame for some recent divorces. A divorce is a stressful and complicated issue. The emotional toll it takes can oftentimes  Continue Reading »

Lucchesi v. Lucchesi In divorce cases, appreciation of separate property is one of the most complex issues whose analysis can be challenging for attorneys and valuators. A recent Tennessee appeals court decision is noteworthy for explaining the framework courts in this jurisdiction use to decide whether the non-owner spouse has a claim to the increase  Continue Reading »

Hall v. Hall A Florida divorce case prompted an important discovery ruling from the appellate court as to a nonowner spouse’s right to access documents and information regarding the owner spouse’s interest in a large medical practice. The wife was one of 75 owners in a large medical practice that had 200 physicians. After she  Continue Reading »

While the divorce rate in Maine is below the national average, it is still common. Divorce is obviously an emotionally and personally impactful event. But beyond that, it is also a financially impactful one. A divorce can create negative tax consequences, especially in terms of dividing up tax-favored retirement accounts. Here is how to manage  Continue Reading »

Burchfield v. Burchfield Among a host of issues, this Virginia divorce case, which included a prominent Washington, D.C., lawyer and his estranged wife, raised an important valuation question related to the husband’s partnership interest in the firm: Whether undistributed earnings were includible in the marital property, as the wife’s expert claimed, or whether they were  Continue Reading »

Oudheusden v. Oudheusden In a noteworthy decision, a Connecticut appellate court recently found the trial court double dipped when it divided the marital assets and calculated spousal support. Although attorneys from both sides had alerted the trial court to the risk of double dipping, the court awarded the non-owner spouse half of the value of  Continue Reading »

Zausch v. Schnakenburg In a divorce case, the Indiana Court of Appeals reviewed a trial court’s post-judgment decision to modify the husband’s child support obligation upwards. The crux of the case was how to calculate the father’s income where he held minority interests in several pass-through entities (PTEs), some, but not all, of which made  Continue Reading »

Hultz v. Kuhn A Maryland divorce case illustrates the difficulties an appraiser charged with valuing a small company in the divorce context may face and how he or she may prevail in court. The wife was the sole shareholder in a tree services business. The issue at divorce was the size of the monetary award  Continue Reading »

Allison v. Allison A Michigan divorce case that centered on the non-owner spouse’s right to the appreciation in value of allegedly separate property is informative as it shows what factors the court considers for its active/passive analysis. However, the size of the award to the non-owner spouse also suggests that the court, in the end,  Continue Reading »

Jensen v. Jensen, 2018 Mich. App. LEXIS 40 (Jan. 9, 2018) This Michigan divorce case involving an S corporation that was the owner’s separate property raised a number of valuation-related questions, including an issue of first impression: Are the earnings a closely held company retains during the marriage includable in the marital estate, such that  Continue Reading »