How is the valuation of a business established in a Louisville divorce? The actual process of asset valuation will have a substantial financial impact on your divorce. What happens to a closely-held business in a divorce in Louisville? Why is the valuation of the business such a complex legal issue in many cases?
When a business or professional practice is considered marital property in whole or in part the interest of each former spouse in the business itself must be equitably divided during the property division portion of your divorce. In order to accomplish this, our Family Court must ultimately resolve the value of the community’s interest in the business itself. A process known as “valuation” occurs to help the Court to determine the value of the small business as well as the marital interest of each spouse in that joint asset.
How is the valuation of a business established in a Louisville divorce. There are many proven methods for determining the value of a marital or commingled asset. Usually, expert witness testimony provides the court with the valuation in question. This could represent a “fair market value” based upon recent sales of similar business, a valuation based upon the gross revenues of the business multiplied by an industry standard factor, the value of all assets, inventory and intellectual property or a combination of these.
The process of business valuation is quite financially complex. The legal challenge lies in the financial interests of the former spouses themselves. The “owner” of the business interest wants the valuation to be as low as possible as they will have to compensate the other party for their former spouse’s equitable interest of the value of the business at the time of the divorce. The other (non-owner) spouse wants to see the highest possible valuation as this will result in a larger amount of money during property division as part of the divorce. It is not difficult to understand how these competing positions play out in many divorces.
The experienced Louisville divorce attorneys at Dodd & Dodd are not only business owners themselves, they have decades of representing business owners and their former spouses before Louisville Family Courts. Our attorneys are skilled trial lawyers who aggressively advocate our client’s position to protect their goals and interests.
How is the valuation of a business established in a Louisville divorce? If you are a business owner, or your former spouse has an ownership in a business during a Louisville divorce we invite you to review the experiences of our clients and the recommendations of the legal industry and contact Dodd & Dodd or call 502-584-1108 to schedule an appointment with one of our attorneys. Our family has served the Louisville area since 1869, and you can trust our extensive experience and legal skill in Louisville divorce cases which involve business ownership.
