Forensic Accountant & Business Valuation Expert for Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts is heard in the Probate and Family Court. Federal matters are heard in the District of Massachusetts. Mr. Friedman is regularly engaged in matters in states across the United States, as well as in international matters, and the firm accepts Massachusetts 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, income 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 Massachusetts Analysis Looks Forward

Most property analyses are historical: what exists, where it came from, what it is worth now. Massachusetts asks those questions and adds one that points the other way.

Opportunity for future acquisition of capital assets and income

This is a factor about capacity rather than about holdings. Two people can leave a marriage with identical balance sheets and entirely different prospects — one with a portable professional practice and a client base, the other with a career interrupted for fifteen years. The statute directs attention to that difference.

Quantifying it is a distinct piece of work from valuing an asset. It draws on earnings history, the trajectory a career was on, the transferability of skills and credentials, the ownership position in a closely held business and whether its income depends on one person. It is an economic projection, and like any projection it is only as good as the assumptions behind it — which is precisely where it gets attacked, so the assumptions have to be stated rather than buried.

Contribution to acquisition, preservation and appreciation

The statute also reaches the contribution each party made to the acquisition, preservation or appreciation in value of their respective estates, and the contribution each made as a homemaker to the family unit. Preservation is the word that is most often overlooked. Acquisition and appreciation are about growth; preservation is about what was protected during a downturn, a business crisis, or a period when one spouse’s income carried the household. Each is a separate measurement drawn from different records.

The breadth of the estate makes the inventory the first real task

A Massachusetts court may assign all or any part of the other spouse’s estate, and the statute expressly reaches vested and non-vested benefits, rights and funds accrued during the marriage — retirement and pension benefits among them. Non-vested interests are the item most commonly missing from an initial disclosure, not usually through concealment but because people do not think of them as property. Establishing the full inventory, with each interest valued on a stated basis, is where a Massachusetts engagement starts.

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 Massachusetts law.

Forensic Accounting and Litigation Support

Earning Capacity and Future-Acquisition Analysis

Quantifying each party’s capacity to acquire capital assets and income going forward — from earnings history, career trajectory, credential and skill transferability, and ownership position — with every assumption stated so it can be tested rather than assumed away.

Contribution Analysis

Measuring contribution to the acquisition, preservation and appreciation of each estate as three separate questions, including the indirect and unpaid contribution that supported the other spouse’s earning or investing.

Full Estate Inventory Including Non-Vested Interests

Identifying and valuing retirement and pension interests, deferred and contingent compensation and other rights accrued during the marriage — the items most often absent from a first disclosure.

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 Massachusetts, very often including whether a future-capacity opinion rests on stated assumptions or on an unexamined assertion about someone’s prospects.

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

Why would a court care what I might earn in future?

Because the opportunity of each party for future acquisition of capital assets and income is among the things the statute directs the court to consider. Two people with the same assets today can be in very different positions five years on, and the analysis is meant to surface that.

How is future earning capacity actually measured?

From earnings history, the trajectory a career was following, how transferable the skills and credentials are, and the nature of any ownership interest — particularly whether a business’s income depends on one individual. It is a projection, so the assumptions are the substance, and they should be stated openly.

I left work to raise our children. Does that count for anything?

Contribution as a homemaker to the family unit is among the contributions the statute addresses, alongside contribution to the acquisition, preservation and appreciation of the estates. It is quantifiable — what the work replaced, and what the interruption cost in earning capacity — and quantifying it is stronger than describing it.

What about my pension that has not vested?

The statute expressly reaches vested and non-vested benefits, rights and funds accrued during the marriage. Non-vested interests are frequently left off a first disclosure simply because people do not think of them as property, so identifying them early matters.

Which court hears a divorce in Massachusetts?

The Probate and Family Court.

Can a Florida-based expert work on a Massachusetts 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?

Several years of earnings records and tax returns for both parties, plan documents and statements for every retirement, pension and deferred-compensation interest, and for a business, tax returns and financial statements, the general ledger in native form, bank and credit card statements and payroll records. For the future-capacity analysis, a longer earnings history is more useful than a recent one, because trajectory is the point.

What credentials should a financial expert in a Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts 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.