Forensic Accountant & Business Valuation Expert for Michigan 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 Michigan 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 Michigan is heard in the Circuit Court, in its Family Division. Federal matters are heard in Michigan’s two federal judicial districts — the Eastern District and the Western District. Mr. Friedman is regularly engaged in matters in states across the United States, as well as in international matters, and the firm accepts Michigan 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. Tracing, contribution and valuation 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 Contribution Is the Question That Decides Michigan Cases

In many states the argument about separate property is about characterisation: was it a gift, was it premarital, was it commingled. Michigan has that argument too, but it also has a route that goes around it. Where a spouse contributed to the acquisition, improvement or accumulation of the other’s property, that property can be reached — whatever its origin.

Contribution is broader than writing a cheque

Acquisition, improvement and accumulation are three different things, and the records that prove them are different. Acquisition points to funds used to buy an asset. Improvement points to money or work that raised its value — a renovation, a capital investment, an expansion. Accumulation points to the build-up of value over time, which is where indirect support and unpaid labour in a family business most often live.

The practical consequence is that a contribution claim can rest on things a bank statement never shows directly: work performed without a salary, a spouse’s earnings covering household costs so the other’s income could be reinvested, or management of a property held in one name. Each of those is quantifiable, but only from a record built for the purpose.

The award is not capped at the size of the contribution

The statute ties the court’s award to what appears equitable under all the circumstances rather than to the measured amount contributed. That cuts both ways and it changes how the analysis should be presented. A party arguing for a share is not confined to a dollar-for-dollar reimbursement figure. A party resisting one cannot treat a small documented contribution as an automatic ceiling. The quantification still matters — it is what makes the claim concrete rather than rhetorical — but it frames the question rather than answering it.

What that means for a business

Where one spouse owns a company and the other worked in it, supported it, or freed up the capital that grew it, the engagement has two halves: value the business properly, then measure the contribution against it. Both halves get attacked, and they get attacked differently. The valuation is challenged on method and normalization; the contribution is challenged on whether the records support the effort claimed and whether the effort actually moved the value.

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 Michigan law.

Forensic Accounting and Litigation Support

Contribution Analysis and Quantification

Building the financial record behind a contribution claim — funds traced into an acquisition, money and work that improved an asset, and the indirect support that allowed value to accumulate — with each component measured separately and sourced to documents.

Separate-Property Tracing

Following an inheritance, gift or premarital asset through the accounts and entities it passed into, identifying what remains attributable to it, and documenting the path together with an honest statement of where the records run out.

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 Michigan, very often including whether a contribution figure was measured or simply asserted.

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

My spouse’s business was never mine. Can a Michigan court still award me part of it?

It can, where you contributed to its acquisition, improvement or accumulation. The court then awards what it finds equitable in the circumstances. Establishing the contribution with records is what turns that from an assertion into a claim.

I never put money in, but I worked in the business for years without pay. Does that count?

Unpaid work is the kind of thing accumulation and improvement are meant to capture. It has to be documented and quantified rather than described — hours, role, what the work replaced, and what a market rate for it would have been.

If my contribution was small, is my share limited to that amount?

Not necessarily. The statute ties the award to what the court finds equitable under all the circumstances rather than to the amount contributed. The measurement still matters, because it makes the claim concrete, but it is not automatically a ceiling.

How do you measure indirect contribution?

By reconstructing what the household and the business each required and where the money came from — which earnings covered living costs, which were available to reinvest, and what the timing shows. It is a records exercise, and its strength depends on how complete those records are.

Which court hears a divorce in Michigan?

The Circuit Court, in its Family Division.

Can a Florida-based expert work on a Michigan 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?

For a contribution claim: account statements covering the period of the claimed contribution, closing and financing documents for any asset acquired or improved, records of work performed, and household expense history. For a business: tax returns and financial statements, the general ledger in native form, bank and credit card statements and payroll records. Contribution claims are usually built from the less obvious records, which is why scoping them early matters.

What credentials should a financial expert in a Michigan 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 Michigan 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.