so some of the most complex and intense

divorces that we deal with is when you

have high net worth and you have a

business owner the reason being is

because you know we all know as business

owners that what you file under taxes or

even on your profit a loss statement

isn’t necessarily accurately reflecting

your income or even your assets so let’s

talk about income first people always

say well I know he she hides her money

and this and that and blah blah blah

you’re never going to find it and they

write it off on their taxes they pretend

they make thirty thousand a year but you

know they’re paying for two of my kids

full College tuition and they go on

vacations I say okay relax what we do is

we back them into an income all right

first of all we’re going to subpoena

anything and everything all right so

we’re going to get the documents whether

they want to turn them over or not and

then second is we’re going to look at

all of those accounts and we’re going to

look at the money that’s going in and

out so if someone says you know on their

taxes I made thirty thousand dollars

last year but the deposits that are

going into you know certain accounts is

twenty thirty thousand dollars a month

it’s very clear to us and the judge

judges are not you know they’ve seen

this before it’s not their first rodeo

we look at the actual deposits and then

we do what’s called imputation of income

all right so we know that the 30 000 on

their taxes doesn’t matter we look at

what they’re actually bringing in and

spending and that’s how we back them

into an income we also use the statute

that says things that we know you can

write off your car your you know cell

phone your meals those get added back

into their income for purposes of child

support and maintenance so really it’s

just a matter of tracking down all the

documents going through everything with

a very fine-tooth comb but eventually

you will get there and be able to figure

out what the income is assets is

different because or or worth of the

business right for example does my Law

Firm have an inherent value

if I wasn’t part of it okay if I walk

away does my Law Firm have an inherent

value someone say yes someone say no you

know it in a service based business it

is hard to argue that there is an actual

net worth of the business where I would

have to pay out right think of

um a photographer okay photographer is

really more of a service base now you

could argue that they have you know ten

thousand dollars in photography

equipment and that’s marital they

started their business during the

marriage I want to be paid five thousand

dollars out for the

um you know equipment you’re using that

would be totally fair but is there a net

worth in the actual photography business

if the photographer is that spouse not

really right so it’s really a matter of

trying to determine what the asset or

value is and we use things such as

business uh evaluators which is a great

tool if you can afford it um we have a

handful of really excellent ones in the

Chicagoland area that can help as well