The Vallit team has over 100 years of combined experience as certified public accountants with extensive forensic knowledge serving attorneys and their clients on a regional and national basis. Whether your case is in the early stages or is nearing a scheduled trial date, the Vallit team can serve as part of your litigation team from beginning to end. From assisting in document procurement to mediation, arbitration and trial preparation, working with the Vallit team ensures a smooth transition throughout the process of marital dissolution.
The services we offer include: forensic accounting, income analysis and business valuation. In addition, Vallit’s expert team can support your case with our depth of experience in calculating nuanced areas such as historical spending analysis for prospective marital budgets, supporting/refuting premarital asset claims as well as analyzing dissipation of assets/extant property.
Click to navigate to a section on the page
Forensic Accounting
Forensic accounting is often applied in fraud examination cases, but did you know that forensic accounting can be an asset in your marital dissolution matter as well? Forensic accounting within martial dissolution entails working closely with the client, counsel, financial and accounting advisors to complete income analyses, asset tracing and dissipation of assets to assist the Court with determining asset division as well as alimony and child support.
Based on our interpretation of the data, our team can provide schedules outlining business income, distributions (both constructive and regular), fringe benefits, stock options, restricted stock, commission-based bonuses and gift income to determine an individual’s income to be considered by the Court in its determination of alimony and child support. Vallit’s retirement capital analyses and imputed income calculations can also be beneficial when negotiating settlement proposals.
Forensic accounting can also be utilized within marital dissolution by assisting counsel and clients with asset tracing. Asset tracing involves analyses of marital and pre-marital investment accounts, real estate and business interests to be considered for marital property awards. By analyzing the data, we can determine the marital vs. non-marital components of contributions and withdrawals into these assets and uncover previously unidentified bank, investment and credit card accounts. In many cases, pre-marital assets inherited and/or gifted assets can contribute to a non-marital claim which can ultimately impact a marital property award.
Dissipation of assets can be described as an individual excessively spending and diminishing marital assets intentionally to lessen the value of their marital property. An example of this would be funds expended on a paramour. A similar concept is that of extant property which relates to property owned and acquired during the marriage but whose current value is missing from the marital estate. Vallit can gather documentation and provide opinions as to the amount of dissipation or extant property.
Whether you need to determine an individual’s income for alimony and child support, to perform asset tracing to make a marital claim or to analyze the marital property estate for asset dissipation or extant property, Vallit’s expert team is ready to assist you to satisfy your forensic accounting needs.
Lifestyle Analysis
During marital dissolution, a lifestyle analysis may be useful to determine potential needs for alimony and child support. A lifestyle analysis is completed by reviewing the income and expenses to establish the standard living of the parties during the marriage. Vallit’s team has performed this historical spending analysis of bank statements, credit card statements and investment accounts countless times using a unique forensic tool which enhances the efficiency of our analysis. The findings can then be utilized to create a prospective marital budget for Court proceedings which would also take into consideration certain post-divorce expenses not incurred during the marriage. A marital budget can be used by the Court to review the parties’ standard of living and apply that data when awarding alimony and/or child support.
Business Valuation
Vallit’s expert team can assist in valuing ownership interests in businesses for marital dissolution. Business valuations for marital dissolution can have nuanced components such as personal goodwill and non-marital asset deductions. When determining the marital component of the ownership interest, we are experienced in analyzing the active vs. passive appreciation of a business owned prior to or inherited during a marriage as well as the personal goodwill held within that interest. An active vs. passive appreciation analysis can determine what the value of a pre-marital or inherited business owned prior to the marriage was worth at the time of the marriage/inheritance and assess how the active and passive factors have influenced the growth of the business. This can be critical in the Court’s determination of a marital property award.
Ready to get in touch with a Vallit Advisor?
Our Services
Providing a Clear View of The Financial Picture
Vallit is focused solely on dispute consulting, business valuation and forensic accounting. Our senior team members have testified over 200 times in Federal, State and International courts. Our dispute expertise ranges from family law to complex commercial and intellectual property matters in a wide variety of industries. In non-disputes, our valuation reports are relied on by estate and trust attorneys, auditors, and business decision makers for tax, financial reporting and transaction purposes.