Valuation of All ProperTies

Valuation  is the most underrated service in family law and usually is at the  heart of all legal malpractice exposure.  This is true whether it  involves a benefit that later will be divided with a QDRO, real estate holdings, including the marital home, employer stock options or personal  stock portfolios, and  available income to pay support.  Family Law  attorneys often secure valuations only when the property in question is  intended to be divided by trading it with other marital assets.  This  limited use for a valuation misses the critical need for one. 

A  valuation serves many purposes. First it organizes your entire case.   It does this first  by showing what is marital from non-marital  property.  Then it discloses  what may be divided in half from what  needs to be traded to accomplish a 50% division.  A proper valuation can  show the source of funds in the creation of the asset (providing a  sneak peak into whether an unequal division may be possible).  A proper  valuation can also show  which divisions produce income either  maximizing the ability to pay support or minimizing the need and the  amount that need be paid.  As support and property are interrelated in  so many important ways, the valuator must have full working knowledge of  the statutes and case law that drive the valuation result.  For valuations errors (including 401(k) plans) few experts understand read: Mishandled QDROs:  The Armageddon of Family Law pp. 19 -28:

https://familylawfla.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Fam-2019-Summer-Fall-Edition-FINAL-web.pdf                                                                                                                                                                                              

Too many attorneys allow the financial affidavit required in all cases to  substitute for a valuation and  only seek a valuation when the case fails to settle.  This allows the non-owning spouse to decide what is marital from  what is not and overlook whether the property can be divided or must be  traded.  If several loans were made during the marriage this converts any non-marital portion into entirely marital property.  But the owner spouse can also be shortchanged when that person elected a survivor benefit for a pension and it wasn't valued.  That is because it gives the entire benefit to the other spouse when it is marital property, meanings its value must be offset against the life only portion.  There are dozens of issues like these that are routinely avoided because most "experts" aren't experts at all and most attorneys do not want to work hard for the client.

 Not doing valuations maximizes the chances for maximum errors because either marital property  will not be divided or that it will be divided when it really should not  be.