In re Marriage of Gelman
A medical partnership’s exclusive contract to provide anesthesiology services to a hospital is an intangible asset, but since buy-sell agreement limits wife’s interest to $1.00, the court finds she has no ownership interest in the business and the contrac ...
Gaskill v. Robbins (III)
Court of Appeals confirms trial court’s reliance on a valuation performed closer to date of petition (rather than date of decree), finding a variety of factors in support, including spouse’s dissipation of funds from the sole proprietorship.
In re Marriage of Kingery
In valuing the husband’s 25% interest in a law firm, the trial court erroneously accepted a valuation that included a “purchase acquisition cost” or “goodwill cost” derived from a buy-out of a former partner.
Swaney v. Swaney
North Carolina Court of Appeals affirms $30,000 goodwill value for closely held IT firm based on a multiple of earnings approach and assumption of a non-compete in a willing buyer/willing seller transaction.
In re Marriage of Hanscam
Court affirms reliance on income approach to value solo CPA practice, including distinction between personal and enterprise goodwill, but rejects trial court’s finding that 25% of the firm was the husband’s separate property, based on his demonstrated int ...
In re Marriage of Ferkel
The appellate court affirmed $42,000 valuation of the wife's solo dental practice and rejected approach by the husband's expert, which included "goodwill and other irrelevant factors."
Wisconsin High Court Says Majority Rule on Goodwill Is ‘Mistaken’
Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds the standard that all saleable goodwill in a professional practice, as evidenced by a non-competition agreement, is a divisible marital asset; and that it is not “double-counting” to base a maintenance award on the income p ...
O'Donnell-States v. States
Trial court did not err in valuing dental practice at an amount less than the husband's prior buy-in value; and did not improperly include personal goodwill value when neither expert included its value ...
McReath v. McReath (II)
Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds the standard that all saleable goodwill in a professional practice, as evidenced by a non-competition agreement, is a divisible marital asset; and that it is not “double-counting” to base a maintenance award on the income p ...
Monaco v. Stewart
Kentucky court finds personal goodwill value of the husband’s 25% interest in a regional anesthesiology practice to be negligible.
Contingency Contract Fees Are Separate Consideration From Business Goodwill
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 division.
Cox v. Cox
Court confirms appropriateness of applying a 50% marketability discount to the post-marital value of a steel business but not to its premarital valuation, citing the changes in the steel industry and company-specific factors.
In re Marriage of Bruns
Divorce court confirms value of dental practice, excluding goodwill, is midway between a broker’s value and a BV expert’s.
Rhodes v. Rhodes
Miss. appellate court confirms “bright line” rule that all goodwill, whether enterprise or personal, of a professional or retail firm, is excluded from the valuation of a business in divorce.
Slater v. Slater
Oregon court adopts majority rule, finding it improper to predicate the value of a professional practice on a noncompete.
Graves v. Tomlinson
Husband presents two experts to value wife’s three health care businesses, a forensic accountant to normalize the records and a business valuation expert to assess value under all three approaches.
Miller v. Miller
Georgia Supreme Court adopts majority rule regarding disposition of goodwill value of professional practice.
Tennessee Court Excludes Patient Files as Professional Goodwill in Dental Practice Valuation
Tennessee appellate court finds that patient records constitute professional goodwill value and are not a divisible asset in divorce.