Why is the valuation of a business important in a contested Louisville divorce? The issue of business valuation is legally and financially quite complex. Each party in a divorce often has opposing interests when it comes to the division of a business or professional practice. In essence, if the company is in whole or in part considered to be marital property and the business owner wishes to keep their company after the divorce they must “offset” their former spouse’s marital interest in the business.
This is the primary issue which makes the valuation of a business important in a contested Louisville divorce. The party who wishes to keep their company usually wants the valuation to be as low as possible. It is usually in the best interests of the spouse of a business owner in a divorce to seek the highest valuation possible. Higher valuation of the marital property interest in the business will require a greater share of marital property or a secured interest to offset the non-owner’s share in the asset.
This is why it is important to work with the experienced and proven divorce and family law attorneys at Dodd & Dodd. Our attorneys have decades of experience in complex contested Louisville divorce cases such as the accurate valuation of a business during property division. There are several legal, viable ways to accurately assess the valuation of a business interest. Each party may employ their own expert to establish the valuation, or the Court may appoint it’s own expert.
No business owner looks forward to having their financials crawled through by a forensic accountant or facing the cost to preserve their business ownership after the divorce. The spouse of the business owner may be concerned about misrepresentations regarding income, expenses or other attempts to lower the actual value of the business. These are a few of the issues which make the accurate valuation of a business important in a contested Louisville divorce.
If you are a business owner facing a divorce, or the spouse of a business owner who is concerned about seeking a fair valuation we invite you to review the strong recommendations of our former clients and contact us or call 502-584-1108 to schedule an appointment with one of our experienced divorce and family law attorneys.
