Forensic Accountant & Business Valuation Expert for South Carolina 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 South Carolina 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.

Marital litigation in South Carolina is heard in the Family Court. Federal matters are heard in the District of South Carolina. Mr. Friedman is regularly engaged in matters in states across the United States, as well as in international matters, and the firm accepts South Carolina 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, expenditure 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 Conduct Has to Be Quantified and Dated

The economic limb is the one an accountant can answer

The statute counts misconduct where it affects or has affected the economic circumstances of the parties, or contributed to the breakup. The first limb is a financial question and it is provable; the second is not ours. That division of labour is worth being explicit about, because an opinion that strays into why a marriage ended has left its own subject matter.

What the economic limb actually asks is whether money moved and what the effect was: spending outside the ordinary pattern, transfers to third parties, assets disposed of below value, business receipts diverted, borrowing that funded something one party kept. Each is measurable against a baseline of what this household or business normally did — and the baseline is what turns “excessive” from an adjective into a figure.

The cutoff makes the calendar part of the evidence

Misconduct occurring after the earliest of three events is excluded: a pendente lite order, the formal signing of a written property settlement agreement, or a permanent order of separate maintenance and support or approving a settlement agreement. So identifying which of those happened first, and when, comes before any analysis of the conduct itself.

The practical consequence is that a schedule of spending or transfers must be built with dates attached and the cutoff marked, not assembled as a total. A single number spanning the cutoff is worth very little, because part of it is outside what the court may consider — and an opposing expert will find that boundary before anyone else does. Presenting the analysis in two clearly separated periods is both more honest and more useful.

The estate is bounded by the filing date

Marital property is property acquired by the parties during the marriage and owned as of the date of filing or commencement of marital litigation. That gives the inventory a defined edge — and it makes what happened to assets shortly before filing a natural focus, because an asset disposed of before that date is not in the estate as such, which is precisely why the misconduct provision exists alongside it.

Non-marital property is defined by origin, so tracing still decides it

Property acquired by inheritance or gift, property owned before the marriage, property acquired in exchange for either, and property excluded by written contract are non-marital. Establishing that an asset came in through one of those routes is a tracing exercise, and where funds were mixed the answer depends on whether the path can still be followed.

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 South Carolina law.

Forensic Accounting and Litigation Support

Economic-Effect Analysis of Conduct

Quantifying the financial effect of conduct against a documented baseline — spending outside the ordinary pattern, transfers, disposals below value, diverted receipts — addressing the limb of the statute that is answerable with records.

Dated Schedules Built Around the Cutoff

Presenting every item with its date and the applicable cutoff marked, in two clearly separated periods, so the court is not handed a single figure that spans a boundary it cannot fully consider.

Filing-Date Estate Inventory

Establishing what was owned as of the commencement of marital litigation, and identifying what left the estate in the period before it.

Non-Marital Property Tracing

Following inheritances, gifts and premarital assets through the accounts and assets they became, 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 litigation, 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 marital litigation 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 South Carolina, very often including whether a conduct schedule respected the statutory cutoff or quietly ran past it.

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

Does my spouse’s behaviour affect the property division in South Carolina?

It can, but on conditions. The misconduct must have affected the economic circumstances of the parties or contributed to the breakup of the marriage. The first of those is a financial question that records can answer.

Is there a time limit on that?

Yes. Misconduct after the earliest of a pendente lite order, the formal signing of a written property settlement agreement, or a permanent order of separate maintenance and support is not considered. Which of those happened first, and when, therefore comes before any analysis of the conduct.

Why does that change how the analysis is presented?

Because a single total spanning the cutoff includes amounts the court may not consider. Schedules are built with dates and the cutoff marked, in two separated periods — which is more honest and harder to attack.

How do you show spending was excessive?

By establishing what this household or business normally spent, on what, over a long enough period to show a pattern, and then measuring the departure. Without that baseline, “excessive” is an opinion rather than a figure.

What property is actually in the estate?

Property acquired during the marriage and owned as of the date of filing or commencement of marital litigation. Inheritances, gifts, premarital property, property exchanged for those, and property excluded by written contract are non-marital.

Which court hears these cases in South Carolina?

The Family Court.

Can a Florida-based expert work on a South Carolina 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 bank, brokerage and credit card statements so a spending baseline can be built rather than asserted; records of transfers to third parties and related entities; the filing date and copies of any pendente lite order or settlement agreement, because they set the cutoff; and for a business, tax returns and financial statements, the general ledger in native form, bank and credit card statements and payroll records. Get the order and agreement dates early — they determine which part of the record is even relevant.

What credentials should a financial expert in a South Carolina 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 South Carolina 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.