Marriage of Pletcher

FACTS

Jill filed for divorce in July 2018 after a marriage of almost 35 years. There were no minor children at the time. Shortly after, in September 2018, Jill filed a request for order (RFO) seeking pendente lite spousal support, attorney fees and costs, and forensic accountant fees and costs. Only the request for pendente lite spousal support is at issue in this appeal. In the years preceding the divorce, the parties’ income came almost entirely through Concord Investment Council doing business as Mitchell Anthony Capital Management (the Investment Firm). The Investment Firm was owned by Mitchell. Mitchell was the face of the operation and managed the clients’ assets (approximately $250 million), while Jill did the bookkeeping. The Investment Firm was primarily paid in one of two ways: either an annual fee of 1 percent of the value of the assets under management, or 10 percent of the increase in value of the assets under management. About half of the Investment Firm’s clients had opted for the profit-based approach. In those cases, the Investment Firm would only get paid if the value of the assets exceeded their historic highs. To avoid double taxation, the Investment Firm paid…