U.S. Supreme Court Affirms Inclusion of Corporate-Owned Life Insurance in Value of Company for Estate Tax Purposes
Connelly v. United States, 2024 The U.S. Supreme Court took on this case because of a split between two circuit courts. In the first case, Blount v. Commr., the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the Tax Court and excluded the insurance proceeds that accrued as a...
Massachusetts Appellate Court Finds Double and Maybe Triple Dipping and Reverses and Remands
Trethewey v. Trethewey, 2024 Overview. The judge awarded $1.7 million to Rosalia from the Wells Fargo account because the money transferred to her should not have been considered as a marital asset free from its liability. (Editor’s note: It was an account holding...
Iowa Appellate Court Affirms Date of Value and Value of Farming Operation in Shareholder Oppression Suit
Walker v. Daniels, 2024 This was an Iowa appeal of a trial court decision of an oppression suit filed by two sisters who were minority shareholders in a family farming operation. This was a dispute between three brothers and their two sisters over their family farming...
New York Appellate Court Affirms Award of 20% of Appreciation of Business During Marriage to Wife and Awards Maintenance to Wife
Rigas v. Rigas, 2024 The judgment of the Supreme Court was appealed on this New York divorce case to the New York Court of Appeals. The appeals court affirmed the award of 20% of the during-marriage appreciation of the husband’s business, ARC Electrical &...
Expert’s Testimony Is Excluded as to Solvency—Adjustments to the Balance Sheet of Debtor Were Inappropriate
Wee v. Yangzhou Putian Shoemaking Co. (In re Unimex Corp.), 2024 “An expert’s report on debtor’s insolvency was excluded under Fed. R. Evid. 702 because the expert’s 50 percent discount of inventory value was a flawed assumption given that the debtor was not being...
North Carolina Court of Appeals Affirms Trial Court as to Inclusion of Personal Goodwill
Sneed v. Sneed, 2024 This case concerned the North Carolina appeal of a divorce decree by the trial court. The appellate court affirmed the decisions of the trial court and held that the trial court was within its discretion to accept the business appraiser’s...
U.S. Tax Court Allows a Charitable Contribution Deduction for a Land Easement But Also Applies a Gross Valuation Misstatement Penalty
Buckelew Farm, LLC v. Comm’r, T.C. Memo 2024-52; 2024 The U.S. Tax Court, in this case, allowed a charitable deduction that the IRS had disallowed despite the fact that the conservation purpose was not preserved into perpetuity following a circuit ruling invalidating...
Appellate Court (Michigan) Orders a Second Remand to Value a Tax Loss Carryforward
Correctly Cammenga v. Cammenga, 2024 This case was returned to the Court of Appeals in order for the court “to make necessary factual findings related to the value of a tax loss carryforward, to alleged violations of a status quo order, and to the court’s decision to...
North Dakota Supreme Court Affirms Choice of Wife’s Expert’s Value of Dental Practice
Kemmett v. Kemmett, 2024 The Supreme Court of North Dakota reviewed the decree and decisions of the district court in this divorce action. The supreme court upheld the valuation of certain land as it was not clearly erroneous because it was within the range of...
Appellate Court (Ohio) Affirms Trial Court’s Acceptance of Husband’s Expert’s Value of Marital Business and Rejects Wife’s Expert’s Value
Granada v. Rojas, 2024-Ohio-1272; 2024 Adriana Granada appealed from the final decree following her divorce from Israel Rojas. The appellate court affirmed the decision of the trial court. Factual and procedural history. In November 2020, Rojas filed for divorce...