BUSINESS VALUATION

HELPING YOU RESOLVE BUSINESS INTERESTS IN A DIVORCE

A business can be a complex issue to address in a divorce. If you or your spouse owns a business, the business may be marital property subject to distribution between the spouses in a divorce.

We are experienced in representing business owners and their spouses in divorce cases. Attorney Mehaffie can help you resolve a shared business interest during this difficult time.

A professional business valuator can value the business so that the value can be equitably divided in divorce. The value of the business will be calculated from the date of marriage to the date of separation. Many factors are considered such as the business’s assets and debts, cash value, tangible and intangible property, profits and losses and income.

The parties can agree to proceed with one business valuation or each spouse can retain their own expert and obtain two competing business valuations. Retaining one expert is certainly less expensive but sometimes not advised particularly if you suspect that your spouse is using the business to pay personal expenses or showing a loss around the same time as the marriage deteriorated. Sometimes a forensic accountant must be brought in to scrutinize a party’s business tax documents and financial records to determine if a spouse is hiding income.

In addition to determining the fair market value of the business, the business valuation addresses other issues such as who acquired the business, each spouse’s role in the business, whether there are business partners or partial interests, whether a spouse received the business as inheritance, and whether the business is marital property subject to distribution between the parties.

Business valuations are not required in every case. For example, if a spouse operates a small business, the parties may agree on a value using financial records, tax returns or an informal business opinion. Business valuations can be very expensive but sometimes they are necessary to acquire an accurate value.

CONTACT US TO DISCUSS HOW TO ADDRESS BUSINESS INTERESTS IN YOUR DIVORCE CASE

We work with business experts to address complicated business valuation and distribution issues in divorce cases throughout Central Pennsylvania.

Contact us now to schedule a thorough consultation with one of our experienced compassionate attorneys by calling 717-790-2403.