Blog

Although the recession itself may be a subsequent event, many of economic factors that impair value after the recession were known or knowable before the recession.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a decision (highlighted by Carsten Hoffman’s FMVOpinions) affirming a tiny fractional interest discount applied to a jointly-owned collection of paintings. In Stone vs. U.S. (2009), the district court rejected the opinion of the estate’s expert, who testified in favor of a 44% fractional interest discount, citing the expert’s “total lack of experience with the art market; the dissimilar motives driving purchasers to acquire […]

Apparently the new frontier in divorce litigation is personal goodwill. Following closely on the heels of May (W.Va.2003) and other divorce decisions, the Supreme Court of Kentucky held recently that the non-transferrable goodwill of a professional practice was properly excluded from the marital estate. The subject business in Gaskill v. Robbins (2/17/09) was an oral surgery practice, operated by the wife, without associate professionals. The wife’s expert presented an asset-based valuation, […]

The Alabama Court of Appeals recently issued an opinion in Grelier v. Grelier, holding that the parties’ agreement to employ the fair market value standard in a divorce case precluded wife from arguing on appeal that the trial court should not have applied marketability and minority discounts. In Grelier, the parties appointed a neutral expert to determine the value of the husband’s business, a retail and commercial real estate development […]

In Shadle v. Shadle (108 PDDRR 102), a Bucks County divorce decision, the main issue was the valuation of an HVAC contracting business owned by the husband. The contracting business generated revenues from two primary sources: prepaid service contracts, and residential repair and replacement of HVAC systems. The company employed seven technicians, including the parties’ two adult sons. An ancillary issue was whether the husband had made an enforceable agreement […]

Chris Mercer’s Value Matters newsletter offered a succinct summary of the Eleventh Circuit’s recent decision in Jelke v. Com., an important decision dealing with built-in capital gains (BIG) tax liability of Subchapter C corporations. The subject company in the case was a C corporation established 80 years ago, whose principal asset was an investment portfolio managed for long-term capital growth. The company was valued for estate tax purposes, and the […]