Financial Experts Get Divorces Settled with Reports

In divorces, a well-crafted and thoughtful business valuation or forensic accounting report, can result in very favorable settlements. 

For CPE credit to view this presentation and others from this conference, click here: 2023 FORENSIC & VALUATION SERVICES CONFERENCE BUNDLE.

When should experts stick their nose in?

1. Day 1
   1. Scheduling order?
      1. Court ordered deadlines?
      2. Mediation deadline – report due?
   2. Discovery – what do you need?
      1. Expert witness disclosure – don’t delay
         1. Curriculum vitae
         2. Engagement agreement

• Scope of engagement (be detailed)
  1. When in doubt, say “litigation support”

1. List of needed documents ready to go
2. Pro Tip: Discuss importance of confirmation
   1. Explain omnipresent risk of altered documents
3. Motion to Compel Discovery
   1. Expert affidavit in support – why documents are needed
   2. Standard Operating Procedure
4. Basic resources to teach client’s attorney
5. Learned treatises for court to explain why certain information is needed and how they are SOP
   1. No cases really exist to explain this
6. Assist with discovery deficiency memorandum

3. F/u on progress. Be clear about:
   1. Documents and time needed to perform work – attorney and client
   2. Payments needed to keep going – attorney and client
   3. Should be special section in engagement agreement
4. Fire attorneys/clients who are “dumpster fires”
   1. Some lawyers will never finish anything, only screw things up
   2. Scary Truth: Most lawyers have no training for expert witnesses

Why there is no line to worry about crossing.

5. Bad clients and bad attorneys are time vampires – ruthlessly cut them out of your life asap

Hidden Assets & Enhanced Financial Investigation: What “A List” Attorneys Know about Discovery Others Don’t. This presentation is for business valuation and forensic accounting expert witnesses.

Mason’s “Hidden Assets” presentation discusses: Experts must learn the legal process. When should experts stick their nose in? Why there is no line to worry about crossing. How subpoenas actually work. How experts can help with subpoenas. Why the subpoena process is not more frequently used and quick enough. Experiences that can expedite and move financial discovery forward. Why attorneys do things at the last minute. Why attorneys wait too late to hire the financial expert.

This video is an excerpt from Miles Mason, Sr., JD, CPA’s presentation at the 2023 Tennessee Society of CPA’s Forensic and Valuation Services Conference, Oct. 24, 2023, in Brentwood, Tennessee.

To learn more about divorce and forensic accounting, buy Mason’s The Forensic Accounting Deskbook published by the ABA Family Law Section. Forensic accounting can help family lawyers win cases while at the same time their clients are able to keep money which might otherwise be taken from them by the difficult and confusing divorce process. This updated edition of one the ABA’s most popular resources explains the practice of forensic accounting and business valuation and how to apply it in family law cases.

Story originally seen here