Complex Property Division

Valuing and dividing a marital estate can be complicated and may seem daunting, especially to the non-propertied spouse who has had little involvement in the propertied spouse’s business or employment.

Our family law attorneys can help identify the assets that belong in the marital estate and determine each respective value. We utilize discovery techniques related to complex marital estates, including requests to non-parties and depositions of experts. In addition, with years of experience with complicated employment compensation packages and employment assets such as stock options, restricted stock, stock appreciation rights, ESOPS, pensions, and other retirement vehicles, we ask the right questions to determine the spouse’s income and assets accurately.

Once assets are determined, there sometimes needs to be additional analysis to discover whether a particular asset is vested for inclusion in the marital estate. If not, we proceed to determine how to value that asset or aspect of the case. Often, a marital estate is comprised of a minority and/or majority interest in a privately held business.

Our property division attorneys work closely with valuation experts in our state and beyond who are qualified in our court system and can be engaged to value a person’s interest in a business. Likewise, we regularly engage professionals to value remainder interests, pension interests, and life estate or trust interests in order to have a complete picture of the marital estate.