Forensic Accountant & Business Valuation Expert for Maryland 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 Maryland 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 Maryland is heard in the Circuit Court of the county or of Baltimore City. Federal matters are heard in the District of Maryland. Mr. Friedman is regularly engaged in matters in states across the United States, as well as in international matters, and the firm accepts Maryland 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, tracing and contribution analysis are performed on documents and data. 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.

Why a Cash Remedy Raises the Stakes on Valuation

Most property cannot be re-titled, so the number has to carry the whole result

Where a court can divide assets in kind, an imprecise valuation on one item can be absorbed by adjusting another. Maryland largely removes that flexibility. A business, an investment account, a second property, an interest in a partnership — none of these can simply be reassigned. The adjustment happens in money.

Two consequences follow. First, the valuation has to be right rather than defensible-ish, because an error does not get diluted across a basket of transfers; it lands directly in the award. Second, an omission is fatal in a way it is not elsewhere — an asset left off the schedule is not merely undervalued, it is absent from the figure that decides the case.

The three transferable categories deserve their own treatment

Retirement and deferred compensation interests are transferable, which means they need valuing on terms a court can act on rather than a single summary number — vested and unvested components, the period of accrual, and the form the interest actually takes. Deferred and contingent compensation is the item most often missing from a first disclosure, not usually through concealment but because people do not think of it as property they own.

Non-marital property put into entireties real estate is a defined tracing question

Among the factors is the contribution by either party of non-marital property to real property held as tenants by the entirety. That is unusually specific for a statutory factor, and it is squarely an accounting exercise: an inheritance used for the deposit, premarital savings that funded the purchase, separate money that paid for an extension. Each is traceable to a date and an amount if the records survive, and it carries weight precisely because it is not a matter of impression.

Effort, and the circumstances of the estrangement, are both in the list

The court considers how and when specific marital property was acquired including the effort expended by each party, the monetary and non-monetary contributions of each to the well-being of the family, and the circumstances that contributed to the estrangement of the parties. Several states exclude conduct entirely; Maryland does not. Non-monetary contribution is named in the statute, so the question is not whether it counts but what it amounted to — which is measured the same way as any other: what the work was, what it displaced, and what replacing it would have cost.

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. This is a financial calculation, not a legal determination — how that split is treated is a matter for the court under Maryland law.

Forensic Accounting and Litigation Support

Complete Estate Valuation for a Monetary Award

Valuing every marital property interest on a consistent basis, with the inventory built to be complete rather than representative — because in Maryland an omitted asset does not get corrected by a transfer elsewhere.

Retirement and Deferred Compensation Analysis

Identifying and valuing pension, retirement, profit sharing and deferred compensation interests, including vested and unvested components and the period over which they accrued.

Non-Marital Contribution Tracing into Entireties Property

Following separate funds into jointly held real estate — deposits, purchase money, improvements — dated and quantified, which is the precise question the statute names.

Contribution and Effort Quantification

Measuring monetary and non-monetary contribution, and the effort expended in acquiring specific property, so both appear as figures rather than descriptions.

Business Valuation Disputes

Valuation of closely held businesses for marital dissolution, 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 Maryland, very often including whether the estate was inventoried completely, since an omission goes straight into the award.

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

Can a Maryland court just give my spouse half my business?

It cannot transfer ownership of it. A court may transfer ownership only of a pension, retirement, profit sharing or deferred compensation plan, family use personal property, and jointly owned real property used as the principal residence. For anything else the remedy is a monetary award — so the exposure arrives as cash, which makes what the business is worth the decisive question.

Why does that make valuation more important than elsewhere?

Because there is no offsetting transfer to absorb an error. In a state that divides assets in kind, a valuation that is somewhat off can be balanced by adjusting another asset. In Maryland it goes straight into the number.

I used my inheritance for the deposit on our house. Does that count?

Yes — the contribution by either party of non-marital property to real property held as tenants by the entirety is one of the factors the court considers. It is traceable to a date and an amount, and documenting it is what turns it from a recollection into evidence.

Does behaviour during the marriage matter in Maryland?

The circumstances that contributed to the estrangement of the parties are among the factors. Several states exclude conduct from property division; Maryland lists it.

I raised the children and did not earn. Is that recognised?

The statute names the monetary and non-monetary contributions of each party to the well-being of the family. That it counts is settled; what it amounted to is the question worth answering with evidence.

Which court hears a divorce in Maryland?

The Circuit Court of the county, or of Baltimore City.

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

Yes, and it is common. The analysis is performed on documents and data, 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?

A complete list of every property interest on both sides — completeness matters more here than anywhere, because an omission goes into the award; plan documents and statements for every retirement, pension and deferred compensation interest; purchase, financing and improvement records for jointly held real estate together with the source of any separate funds used; and for a business, tax returns and financial statements, the general ledger in native form, bank and credit card statements and payroll records. Start from the inventory rather than from the largest asset.

What credentials should a financial expert in a Maryland 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 Maryland 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.