In Re Marriage of Nichols

These appeals from the judgment of dissolution of the 22-year marriage of Claudia Nichols (wife) and Richard Nichols (husband) and from a postjudgment order awarding attorney fees and costs center on a dispute over the value of a community asset, husband’s shareholder interest in his law firm.

Wife’s expert valued the interest by determining the book value of the law firm’s net assets—its fixed assets such as furniture plus its accounts receivable and work in progress, minus its liabilities—and multiplying that figure by husband’s percentage interest in the firm. Using this method, wife’s expert concluded the interest was worth $142,000.

Husband’s expert valued the interest in accordance with a stock purchase agreement which husband signed when he became a shareholder. The agreement provides that shareholders joining the firm shall pay, and those leaving the firm shall be paid, for their interest in the firm’s net assets with the exception of accounts receivable, goodwill and work in progress. According to this expert, the stock purchase agreement fairly represents husband’s interest in the firm for the following reasons: In becoming a shareholder, husband did not pay…