Forensic Accountant & Business Valuation Expert for Washington 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 Washington 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.

Dissolution in Washington is heard in the Superior Court of the county. Federal matters are heard in Washington’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 Washington 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, characterisation 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 Washington Is Not Like the Other Community-Property States

In a typical community-property analysis, the argument that matters is whether an asset is community or separate, because that answer largely determines who keeps it. Washington asks the same question and then does something different with the answer.

Everything is before the court

Because the court may dispose of property and liabilities whether community or separate, winning the characterisation argument does not end the case. An asset established as separate can still be part of what the court distributes. That changes the shape of the engagement in a specific way: a complete inventory and valuation of both estates is required, because a court weighing the nature and extent of each cannot do so from a figure for only one of them.

It also changes what an incomplete analysis costs. Presenting a well-documented community estate and a vague separate estate leaves the court with one half measured and the other half asserted — and the party who measured only their opponent’s side is usually the one disadvantaged by that.

Characterisation still matters, so tracing still matters

The nature and extent of the separate estate is a named factor, so the work of establishing what is separate is not wasted — it is evidence rather than an outcome. Inheritances, gifts, premarital assets and what became of them still have to be traced through the accounts they passed into. The difference is that the tracing supports a characterisation the court will weigh, rather than one that settles ownership.

Misconduct is excluded, but economics are not

The division is made without regard to misconduct. That does not put financial behaviour out of reach — where money left the estate, the question is what happened to it and what it was spent on, which is an economic question about the size and composition of the estate rather than a moral one. Duration of the marriage and each spouse’s economic circumstances when the division takes effect are both named factors, so the analysis often has to describe a position in time, not just a balance.

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 Washington law.

Forensic Accounting and Litigation Support

Full Two-Estate Inventory and Valuation

Building and valuing the community estate and each separate estate together, with liabilities on the same footing as assets — so the nature and extent of each can be presented as a measured figure rather than an assertion.

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 dissolution 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 Washington, very often including whether the separate estate was measured at all or simply characterised and set aside.

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

I proved an asset is my separate property. Is it safe in Washington?

Establishing it as separate is valuable, but it is not the end of the matter. A Washington court may dispose of property whether community or separate, as appears just and equitable. The characterisation becomes a factor the court weighs rather than a rule that removes the asset from consideration.

Then why bother tracing my inheritance at all?

Because the nature and extent of the separate estate is a factor the court considers, and an untraced claim is not evidence of anything. Tracing turns “this was mine” into a documented figure, which is what a court can actually weigh.

Is Washington a fifty-fifty state?

No. The standard is a just and equitable disposition, made without regard to misconduct, considering the nature and extent of the community and separate estates, the duration of the marriage, and each spouse’s economic circumstances when the division takes effect.

My spouse spent heavily before we separated. Does that matter if misconduct is excluded?

The division is made without regard to misconduct, but where money left the estate the question of what happened to it is economic rather than moral — it affects the size and composition of what there is to divide. That is a records question and it is answerable.

Which court hears a dissolution in Washington?

The Superior Court of the county.

Can a Florida-based expert work on a Washington 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?

Because both estates are in play, the starting list is broader than in most states: account statements for community and separate accounts alike, documentation of the origin of any separate asset, liabilities on both sides, and for a business, tax returns and financial statements, the general ledger in native form, bank and credit card statements and payroll records. The separate estate is the side most often left thin, and in Washington that is the side a court is expressly directed to consider.

What credentials should a financial expert in a Washington 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 Washington 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.