The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division answered this question on April 11, 2022 in Christine Ann Devers v. Jeffrey Eric Devers. The parties were divorced in May
Continue Reading With Prejudice v. Without Prejudice: When is a Judgment or Order Final?
While there are always exceptions to the rule, unlike most other assets, though I have seen it happen, businesses are rarely divided 50-50. Yet there is very little case law
Continue Reading Appellate Division Provides Rationale as to Why Businesses are Rarely Divided 50-50
Over the last several weeks, via emails, attending webinars and otherwise, I have frequently heard that the coronavirus may create significant estate planning opportunities. In fact, while writing this post,
Continue Reading Coronavirus Creates Estate Planning Opportunities – Divorce Too?
The immortal George Carlin once said, “That’s the whole meaning of life, trying to find a place for your stuff. That’s all your house is, just a place for your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.”
In the context of Family Law, the topic of personal property is rarely discussed and consistently dismissed by the court and counsel. It is clear that both view personal property as being simply stuff. In fact, it has been assigned multiple euphemisms to it in order to deflate its relative importance. We have all heard the dismissive terms: chachka; accoutrement; trinket; fixture; knick knack; and of course, whatnot- a word specifically designed to describe all the things the item is actually not. In addition, there is often such contempt for personal property that we have created an amalgamation, personalty, simply in hopes of accelerating the process of distributing it by reducing the length of the term, itself.Continue Reading Personal Property: From Picayune to Precious, Distributing the Immaterial Possession
You work hard in high school, graduate top of your class in college, go on to graduate medical school, spend the longs hours and dedication needed to finish your residency, and finally after thousands of hours of studying, hundreds of tests and years of hard work – you are a doctor. You start your own practice. You made it professionally. Personally, things are a bit different. You are facing a divorce. What does that mean for the medical practice you’ve worked so hard to establish?
Doctors may face unique issues during a divorce. Long term marriages may have seen years of what is considered relatively ‘average’ income (medical school and residency), followed by a dramatic or steady increase in salary (or a combination of both). It is no secret that self-employed doctors are usually not a typical W-2 employee. So what does this mean in the context of a divorce? What happens to the medical practice when the couple divorces?
Equitable distribution in New Jersey does not automatically mean half or 50% of a marital asset. Equitable distribution is not a simple mechanical division of assets accumulated and/or created during a marriage. The word ‘equitable’ itself implies the weighing of many considerations and circumstances that are presented in and unique to each case. A judge would not be fulfilling his/her judicial obligation if he/she routinely or mechanically divided assets from a marriage equally.Continue Reading What Does Equitable Distribution Mean for a Medical Practice?
While there are many similarities between the states when it comes to family law, there are also many differences. That fact was recently highlighted in the context of business valuation, specifically, what things should be considered to arrive at a value for equitable distribution, in a post recently seen on our firm’s Pennsylvania Family Law Blog. Specifically,Aaron Weems is an attorney in our Warrington (Bucks County), Pennsylvania office and editor of the Pennsylvania Family Law Blog wrote an interesting post entitled “Superior Court Changes How Businesses are Valued.”
In the Balicki case that Aaron discussed, at issue was the valuation of an insurance agency. It was understood that the business would not be sold, therefore, in deciding the value of the business, the Master excluded expenses of sale, transfer, or liquidation which could include broker commissions, finders fees, attorney fees and accountant fees. The appellate court reversed finding that this was improper. Moreover, the appellate court found error in the fact that the Master failed to take into consideration any taxes that may be associated with the sale or liquidation of a business.
Aaron noted that the appellate court held that Pennsylvania statutes 23 PACSA § 3502(a)(10.1) and (10.2) required that for the purposes of equitable distribution of marital property, the Court must consider the Federal, state and local tax ramifications even if they are not “immediate and certain”, and similarly, the sale, transfer, or liquidation of an asset need also not be “immediate and certain,” either.
The practical effect of this reducing these hypothetical expenses is that it reduces the marital estate, and therefore, the other spouses overall equitable distribution award. Would the same result be reached in New Jersey?Continue Reading In Business Valuation, Are Hypothetical Costs of Sale Considered to Reduce Value? Court in NJ vs. PA Disagree