Forensic Accountant & Business Valuation Expert for Oklahoma 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 Oklahoma 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 Oklahoma is heard in the District Court of the county. Federal matters are heard in the Northern, Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma. Mr. Friedman is regularly engaged in matters in states across the United States, as well as in international matters, and the firm accepts Oklahoma 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 and valuation 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.

The Three Things That Decide an Oklahoma Case

The dividing line is joint acquisition, not the calendar

Most states ask when an asset was acquired and treat the marriage as the boundary. Oklahoma asks a different question. The decree confirms in each spouse the property owned before the marriage and the undisposed-of property acquired after the marriage by that spouse in his or her own right. What the court divides is the property acquired by the parties jointly during their marriage, made in a way that is just and reasonable.

The practical effect is that “it was bought during the marriage” is the beginning of the analysis rather than the end of it. An asset acquired during the marriage in one spouse’s own right is confirmed to that spouse; an asset acquired jointly is divided. Which of those a particular asset is will usually be answered by where the money came from and what each party contributed — a tracing and contribution question, evidenced by records rather than asserted.

The statute also removes the shortcut people most often reach for: the division applies to jointly acquired property whether the title is in either or both of the parties. Putting an account, a property or a company in one name proves nothing, and neither does joint titling. Where funds of different character have been mixed, the work is to follow them and show what each dollar was.

A servicemember carries a statutory burden to prove an amount

Oklahoma carves two military items out of the divisible estate, and it does something unusual with the second half of that carve-out — it assigns the proof.

A servicemember’s portion of Special Monthly Compensation awarded by the Department of Veterans Affairs for service-connected loss or loss of use of specific organs or extremities is separate property and is not divisible. The statute then states that it is the sole responsibility of the servicemember to prove with competent evidence what amount of his or her disability compensation is Special Monthly Compensation. That is an accounting task written into the statute: the carve-out is only worth what can be segregated and documented out of a combined benefit.

Combat-Related Special Compensation is likewise separate if a specific dollar amount can be proved as compensation for combat-related loss of limb or loss of bodily function and the award was applied for and established before the dissolution action was filed. There are therefore two independent ways to lose the exclusion — failing to prove the amount, or an award established too late — and both are answered from records and dates.

Military retired pay is divided by a formula the statute writes out

Where disposable military retired or retainer pay is at issue, the court must make clear and concise written findings on whether it is the member’s separate property or marital property, and include them in the decree. If it is marital, the award is to be consistent with the rank, pay grade and time of service at the date the petition was filed — unless the court finds a more equitable date due to the economic separation of the parties.

The statute then prescribes the dividing language itself: fifty percent multiplied by a fraction whose numerator is the months of marriage during the member’s creditable service and whose denominator is the member’s total months of creditable service. Because the formula is fixed, the dispute moves entirely into its inputs — how many months of creditable service there are, how many of them overlap the marriage, the rank and pay grade at filing, and whether an earlier date of economic separation applies. Those are records questions, and they are where the money in these cases actually moves.

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 Oklahoma law.

Forensic Accounting and Litigation Support

Joint-Acquisition Tracing

Establishing, asset by asset, whether property was acquired jointly or in one spouse’s own right — following the funds used to acquire and improve it through the accounts and entities involved, and documenting the result so it can be tested rather than asserted.

Segregation of Military Disability Compensation

Separating and documenting the Special Monthly Compensation and Combat-Related Special Compensation components of a combined benefit, with the supporting award records and dates — the evidence the statute puts on the servicemember to produce.

Retired-Pay Coverture Calculations

Building the statutory fraction from the underlying service records: total months of creditable service, months of marital overlap, rank and pay grade at the filing date, and the effect of an earlier economic-separation date where one is argued.

Business Valuation Disputes

Valuation of closely held businesses 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 Oklahoma, very often including whether a claim that property was acquired in one spouse’s own right was traced through the records or simply stated.

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

Is Oklahoma a community property state?

No. Oklahoma divides property acquired by the parties jointly during the marriage in a manner that is just and reasonable, and confirms to each spouse what that spouse owned before the marriage and what was acquired afterwards in his or her own right.

My spouse bought it during the marriage but only their name is on it. Does that matter?

Not by itself, in either direction. The statute applies to jointly acquired property whether the title is in one party or both. Title is not the test, so the analysis turns on how the asset was acquired and what each party contributed.

Everything was bought while we were married. Is all of it divided?

Not automatically. Property acquired after the marriage by one spouse in his or her own right is confirmed to that spouse. What gets divided is what was acquired jointly, which is a question about the source of the funds and the contributions behind the acquisition.

Does a 50/50 split apply?

The division of jointly acquired property is to be just and reasonable, which is not the same as an automatic equal split. The court can divide the property in kind, or set it apart to one party and require a payment to the other to make the division fair.

I receive VA disability compensation. Is it safe from division?

Special Monthly Compensation for service-connected loss or loss of use of specific organs or extremities is separate property and not divisible — but the statute places the responsibility on the servicemember to prove with competent evidence what amount of the compensation is Special Monthly Compensation. In practice the exclusion is worth what can be documented out of the combined benefit.

What about Combat-Related Special Compensation?

It is separate property if a specific dollar amount can be proved as compensation for combat-related loss of limb or loss of bodily function, and the award was applied for and established before the dissolution action was filed. Both conditions have to hold.

How is military retired pay divided?

The court makes written findings on whether it is separate or marital. Where it is marital, the statute sets out the dividing language: fifty percent times a fraction of the months of marriage during creditable service over total months of creditable service, with the award consistent with rank, pay grade and time of service at the filing date unless the court finds a more equitable date because of the parties’ economic separation.

Which court hears a divorce in Oklahoma?

The District Court of the county.

Can a Florida-based expert work on an Oklahoma 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 joint-acquisition question, the acquisition records for each disputed asset together with the bank, brokerage and loan statements showing where the funds came from, and records of improvements and payments since. For military items, the award letters and rating decisions, the pay statements showing the components of the benefit, and the service record establishing creditable months. For a business, tax returns and financial statements, the general ledger in native form, bank and credit card statements and payroll records. The acquisition-era statements are the ones to ask for explicitly — they are usually the oldest records in the case and the first to be discarded.

What credentials should a financial expert in an Oklahoma 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 an Oklahoma 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.