Untangling Financial Issues in Divorce Cases
Video clips from our webinar

Presented by:

Our team presented a CLE webinar to several family law and divorce attorneys on how we uncover the complete financial picture to assist with the division of assets, identify any red flags and support your case strategy from the start.

Our team of forensic accounting and business valuation experts covered:

Business valuation approaches (income, market, and asset)
Estimation of personal goodwill in accordance to Slater v. Slater
Analyzing personal vs business expenses
Tracing separate assets (pre-marital, inheritance) vs marital assets
Calculating spousal income

See some of our insights in the clips below.

The Business Valuation Process – Defining the Engagement with Clients

Our business valuation process starts with defining the engagement with clients, then we gather information, apply valuation approaches, consider discounts, and offer a conclusion and weighting of approaches.

Here’s a clip of Paul Heidt, CPA, ASA, ABV discussing what’s needed for us to understand our assignment in how we approach a business valuation – purpose, valuation date, standards of value, interest being appraised and scope.

How is Goodwill Measured?

In our CLE, Alina Niculita, ASA, CFA, ARM-BV, MBA addresses how personal goodwill is handled in a divorce case business valuation. She defines personal goodwill and enterprise goodwill, highlights the Slater v. Slater case in Oregon, and identifies goodwill factors with examples of arriving at the total goodwill value using different business valuation approaches.

In the clip below, Alina touches on a way to think about goodwill and estimate it.

Marital and Separate Assets

Attorneys bring us into divorce cases on the forensic accounting side especially when assets are commingled. In this clip, Jennifer Prager, CPA, CFE, CVA, ABV, MAFF touches on this and tracing separate assets (pre-marital, inheritance) vs marital assets. In the CLE, she also dives into identifying and adjusting personal expenses, and how we can support a spouse’s gross income.

Paul Heidt, CPA, ASA, ABV brings close to 25 years of specialized experience in financial analysis and research. He has performed 250+ business appraisals for litigation, gift and estate tax planning, marital dissolution, business transactions, reorganizations and succession planning. 503-906-1583 | [email protected]

Alina Niculita, ASA, CFA, ARM-BV, MBA is a testifying business valuation expert with 25+ years of experience. Alina has valuation and appraisal review certifications from the American Society of Appraisers. She has appraised hundreds of companies across diverse industries for purposes including litigation, estate and gift tax reporting, estate planning, marital dissolution, shareholder redemptions, reorganizations, and business transactions. 503-906-1585 | [email protected]

Jennifer Prager, CPA, CFE, CVA, ABV, MAFF has specialized in financial damages analysis and forensic accounting for 20+ years. She is a testifying expert who brings deep experience at CPA firms and on large forensic cases in Portland and San Francisco. Attorneys turn to Jennifer for a thorough financial analysis so they can enter trial or mediation with a credible calculation. 503-906-1586 | [email protected]