It is common for divorcing spouses to cash out retirement funds at divorce time. And it seems to make sense at the time. There are expensive lawyers and all sorts of expenses to establish a new residence. Support payments may […]

A question often comes up relative to the lifestyle analysis in divorce cases: Isn’t is just data entry that anyone could do? Why do I need a forensic accounting expert? As I explain below, the lifestyle analysis is NOT just […]

What kind of work can a forensic accountant do in divorce cases? Tracy Coenen talks about the work of a CPA, including calculating income, evaluating financial disclosures, valuing assets, and completing a lifestyle analysis.

Closely held businesses present special challenges in the family law setting. Typically, only one spouse is actively involved in the business. Therefore, not only does the spouse control the family’s finances, he or she also controls all of the records […]

If you suspect fraud during your marriage or divorce, you may want a forensic accountant to do a lifestyle analysis. Tracy gives a list of documents that are typically used for the lifestyle analysis, and explains briefly what she does […]

My book Lifestyle Analysis in Divorce Cases: Investigating Spending and Finding Hidden Income and Assets has a section on the direct examination of financial expert witnesses, especially during depositions. The deposition is the time for the attorney to dig into […]

A divorcing couple has a premarital agreement, so everything is simple when it comes to dividing assets and paying maintenance, right? Of course not. Premarital agreements are rarely simple, and they become even more complicated when the language in the […]

When parties are divorcing, it is not unusual for claims to be made about declining income or lack of assets. Tracy talks about some of the documents that could be used to refute these claims and to prove the existence […]

In high net worth divorce cases, there are often large volumes of data. The lifestyle analysis will rely on a detailed examination of bank, credit card, and investment statements. High levels of spending mean a large amount of data. In […]

We’ve all seen it before: A spouse owns and operates one or more businesses. Divorce is filed, and the “out” spouse is told that the businesses have little or no value. Further, there is no income available to pay support, […]