Valuations to Determine Marital Assets
Legal standards vary from stat to state. Business Valuations undertaken to establish the value of marital assets should be tailor made to satisfy the standards and criteria within that particular jurisdiction while maintaining strict adherence to the standards propagated by the various credentialing bodies.
It pays for the spouse’s contemplating divorce to engage a qualified valuator with the requisite expertise to render an unbiased professional report that will minimize confusion. Opinions between spouse’s perceived value will vary but a professional opinion of value should minimize the costly legal expenses associated with marital dissolution. Frequently each spouse will engage an appraiser. If the results are challenged, anything less that a thorough analysis will be very costly.
An appraiser should be able to distinguish between the enterprise goodwill [the value of the business independent from the owner(s)] and the personal goodwill (the value an owner contributes to the enterprise) in order to fairly establish the basis for the marital asset. In order to effectively prove in a court of law the enterprise goodwill is less than what an uninformed outsider may attribute to the business requires a thorough treatment in the formal report. Expert testimony requires expertise. Do not settle for anything less than a Certified Business Appraiser to rely upon in court.