Forensic Accountant & Business Valuation Expert for Kansas Matters

Working With Out-of-State Counsel

Joey Friedman, CPA, P.A. is a litigation-focused forensic accounting and business valuation firm engaged by counsel in Kansas matters. The firm is based in Florida and works nationwide, handling records-based analysis remotely and traveling for deposition and trial testimony as a matter requires. Mr. Friedman has testified in state, federal and foreign courts, for plaintiffs and defendants, in civil, criminal and marital proceedings. The firm does not prepare income tax returns and does not provide tax planning services.

Divorce in Kansas is heard in the District Court of the county. Federal matters are heard in the District of Kansas. Mr. Friedman is regularly engaged in matters in states across the United States, as well as in international matters, and the firm accepts Kansas engagements in state and federal proceedings alike.

Retaining a forensic accountant from outside the state is common in financial disputes, and in some matters it is preferred:

• Conflict distance. An out-of-state expert is less likely to have prior or ongoing relationships with the parties, their businesses, their banks or their other advisors.
• Records-based work travels. Valuation and marketability analysis are performed on documents, data and market evidence. The location of the analyst does not change what the records show.
• Independence is visible. Where the parties move in the same local professional circles, distance from those circles is easier to explain to a finder of fact — and in a professional practice case, those circles are usually small.

The Marketability Test Is the Kansas Question

Professional goodwill counts only so far as it is marketable for that professional

In most states the treatment of goodwill in a professional practice is worked out through case law and argued as a characterisation question. Kansas puts the test in the statute, and it puts it in valuation language. Professional goodwill is included to the extent that it is marketable for that particular professional.

Read carefully, that is an instruction to measure rather than to classify. It asks what a buyer would actually pay for, given this practitioner, this practice and this market — which is the same analysis a valuer performs when separating transferable value from value that walks out of the door with the owner. The wording also points at the specific professional rather than at professions in general, so a conclusion drawn from what accounting practices or medical practices “usually” sell for has not answered the question.

What answers it is evidence: whether interests like this one actually transact, on what terms, with what proportion of value attributed to transferable elements; how dependent this practice’s revenue is on the individual; whether referral sources, contracts, staff and systems survive a change of owner; and what restrictive covenants would be needed to make a sale work at all. Where the practice cannot be sold to anyone as a going concern without the owner, the statute’s own words point away from including it.

Everything becomes marital at commencement, so the estate is defined by a single date

Property owned before the marriage, inherited, gifted, or acquired individually — all of it becomes marital property at the commencement of the action, whether held individually, in joint tenancy or in tenancy in common. Title is not a shelter and neither is origin. Vested and unvested military retirement pay is named expressly, at present value.

That removes the characterisation fight that occupies most of the analysis in other states and replaces it with something more arithmetic: a complete inventory valued as of a defined moment. The origin of an asset does not drop out of the case — it goes to how the court divides — but it no longer determines whether the asset is in.

Ownership vests at commencement, and the court sets the extent

Each spouse has a common ownership in the marital property which vests at the commencement of the action, with the extent of that vested interest determined and finalised by the court. The division itself can be made in kind, by awarding property and requiring a monetary payment, or by ordering a sale, on the factors the statute lists.

Because a monetary award and a sale are both on the table, valuation carries real consequences either way — an award figure that is wrong is wrong in cash, and a forced sale tests the valuation against an actual market.

Personal versus enterprise goodwill

Where a business depends on one individual, part of its value may not transfer to a new owner. The firm calculates and separates the transferable value from the non-transferable value and documents the basis for each — which in Kansas is the analysis the statute itself calls for. This is a financial calculation, not a legal determination — how that split is treated is a matter for the court under Kansas law.

Forensic Accounting and Litigation Support

Professional Goodwill Marketability Analysis

Measuring what is marketable for this particular professional — transaction evidence for comparable interests, revenue dependence on the individual, the survivability of referral sources, contracts, staff and systems on a change of owner, and the covenants a sale would require — documented so the conclusion rests on market evidence rather than on a general view of the profession.

Commencement-Date Estate Inventory and Valuation

Building a complete inventory valued as of the commencement of the action, including vested and unvested retirement interests at present value, since that date fixes both what is in and when it is measured.

Business Valuation Disputes

Valuation of closely held businesses and professional practices for divorce, shareholder and partnership disputes and buyouts, including the normalization questions that decide most of these cases: owner compensation, discretionary expenses, related-party transactions and customer concentration.

Hidden Asset Tracing

Following money through business accounts, related entities and personal accounts to establish what exists and where it went — common in divorce and in partnership disputes where one side controlled the books.

Economic Damages and Lost Profits

Quantifying what was lost, on a method that survives cross-examination, and identifying where an opposing calculation departs from the records it claims to rest on.

Fraud and Embezzlement Investigations

Reconstruction of what happened from the underlying records — misappropriation, fictitious vendors, payroll schemes and diversion — documented so it can be presented to a court, a board or an insurer.

Rebuttal and Opposing-Expert Review

Review of an opposing expert’s report to identify method departures, unsupported assumptions and figures the underlying records do not support — in Kansas, very often including whether a goodwill figure was tested for marketability at all, or simply calculated and labelled.

Deposition and Trial Testimony

Expert testimony in state, federal and foreign courts, in depositions, mediations, arbitrations including AAA, and jury and non-jury trials, for plaintiffs and defendants alike.

Frequently Asked Questions

I inherited property and it is in my name alone. Is it out of the estate in Kansas?

No. All property owned by married persons becomes marital property at the commencement of the action, whenever and however acquired and however title is held. Origin still matters to how a court divides, but not to whether the asset is in.

Is the goodwill in my professional practice divisible?

Only to the extent it is marketable for you as that particular professional. That is a valuation question — what a buyer would actually pay for given this practice and this market — rather than a label applied to professional practices generally.

How is marketability actually shown?

With evidence: whether comparable interests transact and on what terms, how much of the revenue depends on the individual, whether referral sources, contracts, staff and systems survive a change of owner, and what restrictions a sale would require. A figure produced without that testing has not met the statutory language.

What date is everything measured at?

Property becomes marital, and each spouse’s common ownership vests, at the commencement of the action. That gives the inventory a single defined moment.

Can a Kansas court order our property sold?

The division may be made in kind, by awarding property with a monetary payment, or by ordering a sale, on the statutory factors. Because both a cash award and a sale are possible, the valuation matters either way.

Which court hears a divorce in Kansas?

The District Court of the county.

Can a Florida-based expert work on a Kansas case?

Yes, and it is common. The analysis is performed on documents, data and market evidence, which does not depend on the analyst’s location, and the firm travels for deposition and trial testimony as a matter requires.

What records are needed to start?

For a practice: several years of tax returns and financial statements, the general ledger in native form, the owner’s compensation history, revenue by client or referral source, staff and contract records, and any partnership, shareholder or buy-sell agreement — the last of these often being the best direct evidence of what an interest actually transacts for. Plus a full inventory of all property on both sides as of the commencement date, including retirement interests. Buy-sell agreements and any prior transfers of practice interests are the first documents to find.

What credentials should a financial expert in a Kansas matter hold?

For matters that may reach a hearing, the relevant considerations are accounting credentials, experience with the specific analysis at issue, and a record of testifying. Mr. Friedman is a CPA accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) by the AICPA and a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Discuss a Kansas Matter

Joey Friedman is a CPA accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) by the AICPA, a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, with more than 25 years in accounting and forensic practice and an expert witness practice serving attorneys and litigants nationwide since 2014. To discuss whether the firm is the right fit for a matter — including scope, timing and whether an out-of-state expert suits the case — call 954-282-9615 or use the contact form. The firm accepts engagements in other states as well — see states served for how the analysis differs elsewhere.