A forensic accountant for divorce can be an invaluable addition to your legal team when you need to value a business in which one or both parties have an interest. At Frenkels Forensics, we specialise in providing forensic accountant divorce services to solicitors’ firms, barristers, businesses and individuals throughout the UK.
For assistance call us on 0330 118 8200 or Make An Online Enquiry.
What Does A Forensic Accountant For Divorce Do?
When a couple divorces, one of the hardest-fought issues is often how their assets should be divided. When one or both partners own stakes in businesses, those businesses need to be valued to ensure a fair outcome. That’s where a forensic accountant for divorce comes in.
Valuing a business in divorce cases can be a very complex task, requiring a combination of forensic accountancy expertise and practical experience in divorce matters. The stakes are high, particularly where the couple’s business interests are significant, so getting it right is essential.
Our team of forensic accountants for divorce have decades of experience in valuing businesses of all types to assist clients in securing a fair financial settlement. The Court usually requires the parties to instruct a single joint expert, or an SJE, to prepare a valuation report to assist the Judge in understanding the extent of the couple’s assets and dividing them fairly. Our accountants routinely act as single joint experts in divorce cases. In addition to preparing a report, we regularly attend Court to explain our findings and be cross examined. We have a deep understanding of the litigation rules governing the conduct and duties of expert witnesses as well as the litigation process overall.
How Does A Divorce Forensic Accountant Value A Business?
The key challenge in achieving a fair financial settlement in divorce cases is striking a balance between extracting funds from the business for one party and maintaining its future profitability for the other. Achieving this balance requires a consideration of various factors, including the business’s value, the value of each party’s stake in it, and its liquidity.
The most common basis of valuation used by divorce forensic accountants is the market value basis. Typically, this involves establishing how much the business would sell likely for between willing seller and a willing buyer. This is an art, not a science, and a variety of methods can be used to determine it, including a net asset-based approach and a capitalised earnings approach. Choosing the appropriate methodology in any given case requires an understanding of various factors, including the specific business model, the industry in which the business operates, and its commercial operations. Our forensic accountants, with their extensive experience in both business valuations and divorce cases, possess the expertise required to produce an accurate, robust valuation, so are ideally placed to undertake the task.
How Can A Divorce Forensic Accountant’s Work Assist In Achieving A Fair Financial Settlement?
We use our calculations as the basis for the report we prepare for use by the parties, their legal advisors, and the Court. We are known for preparing reports of exceptional quality, and often receive feedback from clients and Judges noting how easy they are to understand, with one Judge noting our report was ‘one of the best they had seen’.
In divorce cases, parties are required to consider mediation before making an application to Court. Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution. During a mediation, the parties seek to negotiate a mutually acceptable settlement with the assistance of an impartial third party, known as the ‘mediator’. If the parties agree to engage with the mediation process, having an independently prepared business valuation can greatly assist them in resolving the financial aspect of their divorce without incurring the time and cost of litigation. If litigation is unavoidable, our reports provide the Judge with a clear understanding of the couple’s business assets, facilitating a fair division.
How Much Does A Forensic Accountant Divorce UK Cost?
At Frenkels Forensics, we believe that our clients deserve not only first-class accountancy advice, but also outstanding client care, at competitive rates. We pride ourselves on providing our clients with a cost-effective service that is second-to-none. We will provide an initial quote for the work, and keep you informed on our costs throughout the matter with regular updates and breakdowns.
We understand that the costs of a divorce can be a concern for many of our clients. In our experience, the involvement of a forensic accountant in divorce cases often reduces the overall costs of the matter by facilitating a swift settlement between the parties, thereby reducing their legal costs and avoiding the stress, uncertainty, and expense inherent in litigation.
To discover more, please call us on 0330 118 8200 or Make An Online Enquiry.
“Thank you ever so much for the work and advice you have provided . The report was clear and accessible and will not hesitate to recommend you all.”
“Thank you very much for this outstanding work, which has put us into a position to settle the case very favourably.”
“May I take this opportunity to thank you for your assistance in this matter. Counsel and the judge said that your report was one of the best they had seen in that it was concise and technically easy to understand.”