Economic Damages & Valuations
J.S. Held Acquires Shechter & Everett to Expand Forensic Accounting Capabilities for Family Law Disputes in Florida
Read MoreWe specialize in forensic accounting, litigation consulting, and valuation services for family law litigation involving divorce / marital dissolution, child and spousal support, and trust and estate disputes.
We conduct in-depth financial analysis, trace assets, investigate disputes, perform valuations, and serve in an expert witness capacity in settlements and mediations, depositions, and trial.
Family law matters require a detailed understanding of complex financial positions, where assets, income, and ownership interests are not always immediately clear.
We bring deep financial acumen, decades of courtroom-tested expertise, and intricate knowledge of complex asset structures—including real estate, alternative asset management (private equity, venture capital, hedge funds), cryptocurrency, intellectual property, entertainment royalties, and other hard-to-value holdings—to each family law and/or probate engagement.
Family law matters involving high-net-worth individuals require careful analysis of complex financial circumstances, where ownership interests, income streams, and asset structures are not always straightforward. Our family law financial experts and valuation specialists work alongside legal counsel in family law matters that involve diverse and layered financial holdings.
In these matters, financial issues often extend beyond basic asset identification and characterization to include considerations regarding child and spousal support, property division, and analysis and/or valuation of interests in privately held businesses, investment portfolios, retirement accounts, and other complex financial instruments.
These engagements frequently involve the evaluation of compensation structures, income available for support, and disputes related to community and separate property, as well as considerations tied to estate, gift, and trust arrangements. We deliver insight in Marvin actions/palimony and provide expertise regarding the tax implications that accompany separation and dissolution.
Our experts leverage advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI)–enabled tools, and secure global resources to efficiently analyze large and complex financial datasets. These technologies assist our experts in aggregating, organizing, and identifying patterns across voluminous financial records, including bank accounts, investment portfolios, business records, and digital data sources.
All analyses, conclusions, and expert opinions are developed, reviewed, and finalized by experienced professionals. Technology and offshore resources are utilized as analytical support functions and operate under strict quality control, data security, and supervisory protocols to ensure accuracy, transparency, and defensibility in litigation and alternative dispute resolution settings.
In the complex landscape of divorce and family law matters, precision and efficiency are paramount. Using our proprietary asset tracing technology, our experts deliver actionable insights into jointly controlled assets with unprecedented speed and accuracy.
By aggregating financial records across dozens of bank accounts, investment portfolios, and other financial inputs, our experts efficiently categorize tens of thousands of transactions, generating comprehensive reports that provide intelligence for our team to deliver strategic guidance to clients. This advanced capability allows our experts to navigate the intricacies of asset division with efficiency, confidence, and clarity. It helps eliminate the errors and inconsistencies that can often arise when consolidating financial information from multiple accounts too. With built-in reconciliation procedures, we provide reliability that the reports are accurate and transparent, essential for attorneys who require precise and dependable information to advocate effectively for their clients.
Our experts are also able to provide additional input on specific transaction types and quickly update categorizations throughout the analysis to generate new reports with revised criteria. This ability to quickly adapt and refine data is crucial in delivering reliable consultation in high-stakes legal matters and enables our team to explore multiple scenarios rapidly to ensure we provide thorough, defensible analysis.
Contact us to speak with one of our experts about the technology and our consulting services in divorce and family law matters.
In many divorce matters, questions regarding where assets originated, how they were used, and whether they were fully disclosed become central to resolving financial issues.
Asset tracing in divorce and marital dissolution matters involves identifying, locating, and characterizing assets across financial accounts, business entities, real property, and other holdings. Our asset tracing experts analyze financial records, transaction histories, tax returns, and business documentation to trace the origin, movement, and current status of assets subject to division.
We address the characterization of community and separate property, identification of diverted or unreported income, tracing of funds through complex ownership structures, and investigation of undisclosed assets where financial disclosure may be incomplete. In-house digital investigations and discovery experts support analysis where electronic records, communications, or financial data require complex examination to surface the truth behind the numbers.
Our findings are documented in expert reports prepared for attorney review and delivered in expert witness testimony in settlement negotiations, mediations, trials, and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) proceedings.
When a business is part of the marital estate, determining its value often becomes a key point of focus. Valuation of privately held businesses, professional practices, and other enterprise interests are central to many divorce and marital dissolution matters. J.S. Held’s valuation experts perform business, asset, and intellectual property valuations to determine fair value and equitable property division.
Our evaluations address the distinction between community and separate property, normalization of earnings, and identification of personal versus enterprise goodwill, along with application of appropriate valuation methodologies and discounts. Stock options, restricted stock units, retirement interests, and other complex financial instruments are also valued and/or allocated as part of the marital estate.
Determining income for support purposes is often one of the most contested financial issues in divorce matters.
Child support and alimony determinations in high net worth divorce matters require detailed analysis of income and cash flow available for support. J.S. Held’s experts analyze financial statements, tax returns, business records, and compensation structures to assess income from business distributions, investments, deferred compensation, and other non-wage sources.
Where income is diverted, unreported, or structured to reduce reported earnings, our analysis identifies discrepancies and documents the basis for adjusted income. We provide Marital Standard of Living (MSOL) analysis that establishes the economic profile maintained during the marriage to inform financial support determinations and reasonable compensation analysis evaluates whether owner earnings are consistent with market rates, supporting both income analysis and related valuation considerations.
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