More than a quarter century has elapsed since the landmark Indiana Supreme Court decision in Yoon v. Yoon, 711 N.E.2d 1265 (Ind. 1999), distinguishing personal goodwill from enterprise goodwill in divorce cases.
Unlike the income and market approaches, the asset approach is rarely applied to functioning businesses. That approach and its underlying methods frequently correspond with “net book value,” or a lower conclusion of value than yielded under the income or market approaches.
The market approach is a commonly applied approach to business and professional practice valuations in divorce. Is the market approach reliable? It depends on the data.
Valuing businesses and professional practices in divorce cases is more an art than a science. Yet developments over the past three decades bring more conformity to the process.
When buying out a spouse’s business interest, the temptation is to draw funds from the corporation to pay. However, the potential unintended tax consequences of this approach can be both significant and detrimental.
The terms “reconciliation agreement,” “postnuptial agreement,” “postmarital agreement,” “separation agreement,” “marital agreement” and “settlement agreement” have been the subject of considerable Indiana appellate court commentary without legislative guidance.
By Andrew Z. Soshnick The treatment of trust interests as marital property under Indiana law has an underdeveloped and confusing history. The 1973 Indiana Dissolution of Marriage Act and statutory amendments do not directly address the issue of what trust interests are marital property. Likewise, few appellate opinions attempt to clarify when trust interests are […]
Until Indiana rehabilitative maintenance law is refined, the underuse, misapplication and perplexing nature of that statute is almost certain to continue with no end in sight.
One of the perplexing areas of Indiana divorce law is “income.” At first blush, that vexation seems out of place. Upon closer inspection, the confusion is understandable. Why? The reason is that there frequently are disputes as to whether payments are income or property in divorce cases.