Forensic Accountant & Business Valuation Expert for Wyoming 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 Wyoming 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 Wyoming is heard in the District Court. Federal matters are heard in the District of Wyoming. Mr. Friedman is regularly engaged in matters in states across the United States, as well as in international matters, and the firm accepts Wyoming 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. In a state with few practitioners, that distance is often easier to find outside it.
• Records-based work travels. Valuation and benefit 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.

The Three Things That Decide a Wyoming Case

There is no marital estate to define — origin is a factor, not a category

The statute gives the court the property of the parties without dividing it into marital and separate. Nothing is excluded by how or when it was acquired. What origin does instead is enter as one of four things the court has regard to: the respective merits of the parties, the condition in which they will be left by the divorce, the party through whom the property was acquired, and the burdens imposed upon the property for the benefit of either party and children.

The practical effect is that the argument about categories disappears and an argument about weight replaces it. A ranch brought into the marriage, an inheritance, a premarital business — none of them sits outside the court’s reach, but the fact that it came through one party is something the court must have regard to. That is a question of degree, and degree is established with figures: what the asset was when it arrived, what has been put into it since, and by whom.

The fourth consideration is one people overlook. Burdens imposed upon the property — debt secured against it, obligations it carries, encumbrances taken on for the family — are part of the picture, which means an asset should be presented net of what rides on it rather than at a headline value.

Veterans’ disability benefits are walled off three different ways

This is the sharpest rule in the statute, and it is unusually thorough. In making a property disposition a court shall not:

• consider any federal disability benefits awarded to a veteran for service-connected disabilities;
• indemnify a veteran’s spouse or former spouse for any waiver or reduction in military retirement or retainer pay related to the receipt of those disability benefits; or
• award any other income or property of the veteran to the spouse as compensation for that waiver or reduction.

The three together close the routes around each other. It is not merely that the disability payment itself is off limits; a court also cannot make the other spouse whole for what the waiver cost them, whether directly or by handing over something else instead.

That makes the underlying calculation unusually consequential, because there is no correcting it afterwards. Where a veteran has waived retired pay in order to receive disability compensation, what is divisible is only what remains, and establishing that requires reading the retired-pay accounts properly: gross entitlement, the amount waived, what drove the waiver, and the period involved. A figure taken from a single statement without separating those components will be wrong in one direction or the other, and in Wyoming the error cannot be repaired by an adjustment elsewhere in the award.

“The condition in which they will be left” is a forward-looking financial test

Among the four regards is the condition in which the parties will be left by the divorce. That is not a statement about the assets on a schedule; it is a statement about each person’s position afterwards, and it invites evidence that most property schedules do not contain.

What answers it is a picture of each party going forward: income and realistic earning capacity, the debt each will actually service and at what cost, liquidity as opposed to book value, and whether an asset awarded to someone can be carried at all — a ranch, a building or an operating business can be worth a great deal and still leave its owner short of cash. Two schedules that look balanced on paper can leave the parties in quite different conditions, and demonstrating that is an analytical exercise rather than an assertion.

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 Wyoming law.

Forensic Accounting and Litigation Support

Military Retired Pay and Disability Waiver Analysis

Separating gross retired or retainer pay from the portion waived to receive service-connected disability compensation, establishing what drove the waiver and over what period, so the divisible amount is correct at the outset — which in Wyoming is the only opportunity to get it right.

Origin and Contribution Quantification

Establishing what an asset was when it entered the marriage, what has been contributed to it since and by whom, so that “the party through whom the property was acquired” is supported by figures rather than argued as a characterisation.

Net-of-Burdens Asset Presentation

Presenting assets net of the debt and obligations secured against them, since the burdens imposed upon property are one of the four matters the statute directs the court to have regard to.

Post-Decree Position Analysis

Modelling the condition each party will actually be left in — income and earning capacity, debt service, liquidity, and whether an awarded asset can be carried — rather than resting on the face value of a property schedule.

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 Wyoming, very often including whether retired pay was analysed properly or whether an award quietly compensates for a disability waiver the statute puts out of reach.

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 property I owned before the marriage protected in Wyoming?

Not as a category. The court disposes of the property of the parties without a separate-property exclusion. The fact that property came through one party is something the court has regard to, alongside the merits of the parties, the condition they will be left in, and the burdens imposed upon the property.

Is an inheritance treated differently?

It is not placed outside the court’s reach by the statute. Where it came from is a matter the court considers rather than a rule that removes it, so the strength of the position depends on what can be shown about the asset and what has been contributed to it since.

My former spouse’s share of my military retirement dropped when I took disability pay. Can they be compensated?

No. The court may not indemnify a spouse or former spouse for a waiver or reduction in military retirement or retainer pay related to receiving veterans’ disability benefits, and may not award other income or property as compensation for it. The disability benefits themselves may not be considered either.

So what is actually divisible from military retired pay?

What remains after any waiver, which is why the components need separating carefully from the pay records rather than taken from a single figure. Because no later adjustment is permitted, the analysis matters more here than in states that allow an offset.

What does “the burdens imposed upon the property” mean?

It directs attention to what an asset carries — secured debt and obligations taken on for the benefit of a party or the children. In practice it means an asset should be presented net of those burdens rather than at a headline value.

Which court hears a divorce in Wyoming?

The District Court.

Can a Florida-based expert work on a Wyoming 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 military pay question, the retired pay account statements, the disability award documentation and the service record. For an origin question, the acquisition records and everything showing contributions and improvements since. For the post-decree position, income records, loan documents and debt schedules for both parties. For a business or ranch operation, tax returns and financial statements, the general ledger in native form, bank and credit card statements and payroll records. Retired pay statements showing the components rather than a single net figure are the item to request explicitly — a summary figure conceals the waiver, which is the one thing that cannot be fixed later.

What credentials should a financial expert in a Wyoming 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 Wyoming 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.