Standard of Living

When a client says the other spouse has been spending marital money on something other than the marriage, the financial question is narrow: what left, when, to whom, and how that compares with normal. Whether it counts as dissipation, and what the remedy is, belongs to the court. The legal frame, briefly States differ on whether dissipation is recognized, what must be proved (timing, purpose, intent, marital breakdown), and the remedy, which is often an adjustment in the divi

Income for a salaried spouse is on a pay stub. Income for a self-employed spouse is a judgment, and when the spouse's reported income looks low, the question becomes whether a different figure should be used for support. The legal frame, briefly Child support statutes in many states, including Utah's, allow a court to impute income to a parent who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed. Alimony laws commonly consider earning capacity. The standards, the findings required,

I spent 25 years running an equipment dealership before I started valuing businesses. The credentials tell you I know the methods. The years in the business tell me what to question in the numbers. The insight: every industry has a handful of numbers that tell the real story A financial statement shows revenue, costs, and profit. It does not tell you which line is a real cost, which is a financing cost, and which is a subsidy that could disappear. An analyst who has never run

A return that is accurate for tax purposes can still understate what an owner has available to spend. Most of what looks like hidden income is legal. It is income the return does not show, and the tax return is where the trail begins. The insight: compare the return to itself before comparing it to anything else The business return, the personal return, and the owner's spending should tell one story. Gaps between them point to the questions worth asking. Start with the three-

That claim is sometimes true. Businesses do decline, and owners do carry heavy debt. A forensic accountant does not assume it is false. The work is to test it against evidence that does not depend on the owner's word. The insight: taxable income is a tax number A business can show a small taxable profit while generating substantial cash. Accelerated depreciation, owner perks, prepaid expenses, and discretionary spending all reduce taxable income without reducing the cash avai

Most schedule problems in a financial expert engagement start with documents that arrive late, in the wrong format, or never. A complete first request avoids most of them. The insight: send the deadlines before the documents The court's scheduling order decides what is possible. Tell your expert the valuation date, the expert disclosure deadline, the discovery cutoff, and the trial date before anything else. Scope follows from those dates. An expert who knows the calendar can

A tax return shows what was reported. A lifestyle analysis shows what the family actually lived on. When the two do not match, the gap is the finding. Why attorneys order one Alimony statutes commonly tie support to the standard of living the couple maintained. Utah's statute directs the court, as a general rule, to look to the standard of living at the time of separation. Confirm the current text and how your court applies it. Whatever the rule, you need a documented, defens

The profit and loss statement of a closely held business is built for the tax return, not for a court. The owner decides what to pay himself or herself, and that decision is rarely driven by what the job is worth. Why the number moves An owner's pay shows up in several places: W-2 wages, guaranteed payments, distributions, bonuses, retirement contributions, health insurance, a company vehicle, travel, and family members on payroll. In an S corporation, a low salary paired wit