In this Tennessee appellate divorce decision, the court affirmed the valuation of the husband’s plastic surgeon practice from the trial court. Read more >>

Appraisers working on divorce cases know that goodwill is a fundamental concept they have to master. What makes it challenging is that divorce is a state matter and that different states adhere to different rules as to how to treat goodwill. BVR is excited to offer legal and valuation professionals a handy reference guide that includes a state-by-state breakdown of goodwill jurisprudence Read more >>

Arkansas is one of the many states that differentiate between enterprise goodwill and personal goodwill. The former is marital property and divisible at divorce; the latter is not. A question that has come up in recent years is whether the owner of a nonprofessional business can claim personal goodwill whose value is excludable from the marital estate. Read more >>

The flashpoint in a protracted New Jersey divorce proceeding was the valuation of the owner spouse's equity partner interest in a large law firm. A critical issue was whether the value of the interest should include an additional amount stemming from the firm's enterprise goodwill. The trial court's decision elicited stinging criticism from the appellate court. Read more >>

A recent Washington state divorce case included a noteworthy discussion of goodwill where the owner spouse’s business arguably was separate property. Divorce experts will notice that the court’s goodwill analysis has much in common with an appreciation analysis. Read more >>

What do you think of this method a valuation expert and forensic accountant uses for allocating goodwill between its enterprise and personal components? Read more >>

Tennessee does not consider personal goodwill in a solo proprietorship a marital asset. But what about trail income, the money a financial planner makes from managing his or her clients’ funds and portfolios? In Fuller v. Fuller, the owner-spouse argued the goodwill analysis applied to the treatment of trail income as well. The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently disagreed. Read more >>

In a Mississippi divorce, the husband's sole-owned fitness training company was the key asset. An accurate valuation was central to achieving an equitable distribution of property, but the parties did not hire experts or even submit much financial information to the trial court. Read more >>

Following the divorce, the husband filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy and asked for confirmation of his plan. The issue was whether the plan could meet the liquidation test applicable under the Bankruptcy Code’s section 1325(a)(4). In essence, the test requires that creditors in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy receive present value payments that are at least equal to the amount the creditors would receive in a Chapter 7 case. Read more >>

A Florida appeals court examines the issue of whether the increased value of stock from a company for which the owning spouse works can be a marital asset and subject to distribution. Read more >>

A survey is open for respondents to indicate which industries they would like to see analyzed for economic causal factors and their elasticities in order to better determine passive appreciation in business assets in a divorce context. The resulting analyses will be published. Read more >>

Ultimately, the parties reached a deal that included the sale of the building and the sale of the assets of the practice, as well as an employment contract for the doctor. The asset purchase agreement said the assets being sold included all of the practice's goodwill. At the same time, it allocated 100 percent of the purchase price to tangible assets: furniture, fixtures, equipment and supplies. The agreement also included noncompete and non-solicitation clauses. Read more >>