| Valuation of Closely Held Businesses in Divorce Proceedings |
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| Generally, divorce cases involving thorny property issues can be complicated to resolve. This especially is true when the marital estate includes a closely-held business. A closely-held business usually presents one of two scenarios in the divorce context. The business may be tied to one spouse who is responsible for the business's success. Distribution of the business to one spouse often creates asset allocation and business valuation issues. It presents the problem of valuing the business and structuring the parties' assets and liabilities in order to provide the other spouse with a comparably valued property distribution. If the business depends on the operating spouse's good will and management, which many closely-held businesses do, then the true value can suffer under the emotional stress common in divorce even if the business is distributed to the key-person spouse. A business having one value when operated by the key-person spouse can have a far different value when distributed to the non-operating spouse. More... |
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| Temporary Counsel Fees in Divorce |
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| Courts may grant interim attorney fees, while a divorce case is pending, to the spouse who lacks control over the marital assets that will be used to pay the fees. Granting interim relief in a divorce proceeding serves to promote fairness and impartiality by enabling the dependent spouse to maintain or defend the divorce action without being placed at a financial disadvantage. The dependent spouse often can secure attorney fees for appeals as well. Temporary counsel fees often can be estimated by using "rule of thumb" or local custom. More... |
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| Spouses as Witnesses in Divorce Proceedings |
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| In general, either spouse can testify in a ''no fault'' divorce proceeding, in a fault-based divorce proceeding, in a property settlement hearing, or in proceedings relating to custody determinations. While such testimony can be highly relevant in a divorce proceeding, there are some rules (including the marital communications and anti-marital facts privileges) that come into play when considering the admissibility of such testimony. More... |
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| Property Division in Divorce: Equitable Distribution |
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| As the name implies, "equitable distribution" seeks to give the divorce court some discretion to distribute property equitably in divorce. Many common-law states and some community property states use equitable distribution for dividing marital assets and debts between divorcing spouses. Many equitable distribution states also apply the scheme to divisible property, and some so-called "all property" states may apply it to all of the spouses' property. More... |
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| Fault-based Divorce: Bigamy |
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| Bigamy is a criminal offense. It is the act of entering into a second marriage willfully and knowingly during the existence of the valid bond of a first marriage. Some states consider bigamy as a ground for fault-based divorce. More... |
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