Divorce Litigation Services

Family Law Expert Services

Valuation, Tax and Cash Flow Analysis for Settlement Purposes & Trial

We provide consulting and financial analysis to assist individuals, and their attorneys, in the middle of a divorce. We specialize in valuation services when divorcing parties own any marital or separate business interests. We can also analyze the various assets owned by the parties, show settlement scenarios and provide expert experience in valuation and financial matters. We do this through in-person or online meetings and calculate the scenarios during the meeting.

When we are hired by both parties and attorneys, we will institute strict communication protocols which allow everyone to be aware of the communication between our experts and the clients or attorneys. This is the only way we can make sure each party is allowed to speak their opinions on the matter and be assured there are no private conversations between one party and the expert. We also have secure online portals for all parties to upload confidential information. All individuals involved in the matter would have login access to the info.

Usually in these situations we can provide the analysis and valuation in spreadsheets or exhibits and present the information to the group which may eliminate the need to produce a report, which is more cost-effective.

Steps to Working with Us

Here are some of the steps to working with us to develop a settlement plan with valuation and/or maintenance and child support calculations.

• Determine if we will consult with one party or both parties to the divorce.
• We provide a valuation document request which includes 3-5 years of prior tax returns, operating/shareholder agreements, internal financial statements, fixed asset listing and other various financial data.
• If we are providing consulting related to cash flows of the parties we will also gather recent statements for all accounts including, but not limited to, the following: bank, savings, investments, retirement, 401k, IRA, bonus plans, stock options and other benefit programs. We may also want to see the past 3-5 years of personal tax returns and W2 wage statements.
• We will input the data into our spreadsheets and software to begin to get an idea of what types of assets exist and determine a preliminary valuation assessment of the companies.
• We will determine reasonable rates of return for the different assets and accounts.
• We will then set an in-person or web-based meeting with all parties, clients and attorneys.
• During this meeting we will discuss the historical operations of the business, the future income potential, non-operating assets, non-recurring expenses, reasonable officers’ compensations and normal rent, to name a few. All parties have the opportunity to provide info on these topics and the valuation expert will take the information into account in the valuation of the business, but may not disclose the impact of each piece of information during the meeting. This is a fact-finding meeting. 
• The valuation expert will then incorporate all the information in the valuation analysis, address any additional questions to all parties via group emails and determine the value of the businesses. 
• Another meeting will be arranged for the valuation expert to covey the findings of the valuation analysis and answer any questions regarding the assumptions used to determine the value.
• During this meeting we may also discuss the investment accounts and start to work with scenarios for settlement.
• Once we know the current account amounts, income producing potential and client goals we can work to suggest ways of allocating the assets.
• The purpose of the meeting will be to conduct the analysis in real-time, so all parties can see the results of different scenarios on the property split, maintenance (alimony), child support and income numbers.
• We can calculate the payout of maintenance in one lump sum or over a specific time period. We can incorporate college tuition fees or future expenses for older children. We can determine the after-tax cash flow to each party with and without maintenance or child support payments. We can assist in determining the income and expenses for each party. We can also forecast income from various investment accounts or business interests.
• This allows the parties and attorneys to develop the settlement strategy and identify a range of reasonable solutions for allocating the assets in the divorce and/or calculating equalization payments.
• This is an interactive, collaborative process for the parties and attorneys to develop factual information concerning the marital and separate assets, as well as move forward to settle the matter in a cost-effective manner.
• Many times when the client and attorney can clearly see the financial picture, it is easier to settle the case and not feel as if money was left on the table or the client is getting a bad deal.
• We will not produce any reports or analyses for the parties as this is for settlement purposes only. We are available, at a later date, to solidify the calculations, present formal deposition/trial exhibits and testify in court, if necessary, in the event the parties are unable to settle the issues.

The next step to working with us would be to send us the names of the divorcing couple and any business interests involved so we can run an internal conflict check. Once we are cleared of any conflicts we will present you with a formal engagement letter, discuss timeline and meeting schedules.