Randy Work and Mandy Gray married 22 years ago. Randy was an executive at Lone Star Funds and their marital estate was worth $225 million dollars by the time they divorced in 2015 in England. The court split the money equally between

Work appealed and argued that he should receive 61% because of his special contribution. U.K. judges have distinguished cases where success is of a “wholly exceptional nature” and people who’ve become very wealthy through ordinary means.

The three judge appeal panel ruled against Work, however, and upheld the lower court’s finding that the fortune was the result of “being in the right place at the right time, or benefiting from a period of boom,” not professional genius on the part of Randy.

April 13, 2017/by James J. Gross

The Tale of the Two Kayaks and Other Divorce Trainwrecks

Finances

We went to a birthday party for one of our neighbors last night. Sooner or later at parties, people around me start telling me their divorce trainwreck stories.

One woman told me about how she and her ex fought over who would get the two kayaks.

“Why didn’t you take one and let your ex take one?” I asked.
“They were a matched pair.”
“ So,” I said, “Just buy another matched pair.”
“They were hand-made and unique.”

It ended up that the husband bought the wife’s kayak for $750.

Tax Planning for Divorce (Part 6-Asset Transfers)

Divorce Law

Guest Post by John Ellsworth, Esq.

When a divorce settlement moves property (typically, your house and part of his or her 401-K) from one spouse to another, the recipient doesn’t pay tax on that transfer. That’s the good news.

But it’s important to remember that the property’s tax basis moves with the property. If you get the house, you also get its basis. This means that when you sell the property you get to subtract how much you “paid” for the property from the sale price. The “how much you paid for it” part is called the “basis.”

So, if you get property from your ex in the divorce and later sell it, you will pay capital gains tax on all the appreciation before as well as after the transfer. (“Appreciation” means how much it’s gone up in value.)

That’s why, when you’re splitting up property, you need to consider the tax basis as well as the value of the property. A $100,000 bank account is worth more to you than a $100,000 stock portfolio that has a basis of $50,000. There’s no tax on the former, but when you sell the stock, you will owe tax on the $50,000 profit.

If your divorce lawyer isn’t familiar with how this all works, ask him or her to consult for an hour with a qualified tax lawyer to get the low-down.

March 21, 2013/by Guest Post

Housing Prices Rise in Maryland

Finances

Will rising housing prices bring more divorces? Couples who were arguing over who takes on the house as a liability may now be able to argue over how to split the net sales proceeds if housing prices continue to advance.

Over the past year in Maryland, housing prices in Montgomery County increased more than those of any other county in the Washington, DC, region, according to a story in the Washington Examiner.

Housing prices rose 11.7 percent in May over the same period a year ago, and are up 5.7 percent so far this year, a Metropolitan Regional Information Systems report showed.

June 13, 2012/by James J. Gross