Divorcing is difficult. In addition to feeling loss and sadness, the process of divorce can be burdensome and overwhelming. Things can go to another level when your spouse is hiding money. It’s bad enough that you have to walk away from your marriage with half of the assets and less …
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 of the business. When a spouse is attempting to quantify …
When calculating child support or alimony obligations, “income available for support” is an important concept. In this video, Tracy talks about some of the issues that may arise when evaluating income.
I often hear: “Pyramid schemes are illegal! If XYZ Company was a pyramid scheme, the government would shut them down!” Yes, pyramid schemes are illegal. No, our government generally doesn’t shut down pyramid schemes masquerading as multi-level marketing. MLM is a type of pyramid scheme that our government allows to …
Despite the proliferation of information available about phony investment schemes and the dire warnings given regularly by news reporters, consumers continue to become victims of these scams on a regular basis. The perpetrators of investment schemes dream up stories explaining their unusually high rates of return on money, and people …
I often talk about doing a lifestyle analysis in divorce, where I go through the personal spending of the parties in detail and make calculations surrounding the spending. But what about doing the same type of lifestyle analysis for a business? Why would we want to do that? Closely held …
Daubert challenges are used by opposing counsel to limit or exclude the testimony of expert witnesses at trial. In this video, Tracy Coenen discusses how she deals with Daubert challenges in her work.
Companies typically have a standard way of initiating cash disbursements like payments to vendors or employees. Often this involves entering an invoice into the accounting system, ensuring proper approval for payments, and then generating the electronic transfer or check. Sometimes invoices are entered at scheduled intervals and payments are issued …
When a spouse owns a business, it can create some of the most complicated financial issues in a divorce. It is extremely important to dive into the financial records of the business in order to value it and to determine where the money is REALLY going. Tracy Coenen and Miles …
How does a fraud investigator know when enough investigation has been done on a case? If a scope of work was agreed upon with the client, the investigator should finish that work in order to meet her or his obligations. However, there could come a point in the investigation when …