By Ron J. Anfuso, CPA, ABV, CFF, CDFA, FABFA
Not all marital dissolution cases require the services of a Forensic Accountant. However, many of the more complicated cases in this ever complex and changing area of law do. Some of the reasons to retain a Forensic Accountant are as follows:
- When unreported or underreported income is an issue
- When one or both of the spouses is self-employed
- When one of the spouses has separate property claims
- When temporary and permanent spousal and child support are an issue
- When a determination of the marital lifestyle is required
- When accounting for reimbursements, tracing, allocation, apportionment and characterization of assets is needed
- When a valuation of a business interest is required
- When determination of business, executive or professional goodwill is needed
- When there has been a commingling of funds (See v. See)
- When there are reimbursement claims for post-separation maintenance of community assets (Epstein)
- When the community has made payments on a separate property residence (Moore/Marsden)
- When an apportionment of community business is necessary (Pereira/Van Camp)
