Adams v. Adams: The husband’s partnership interest value in his employer could be assigned to marital estate for purposes of equitable distribution.
By Laura Morgan, Family Law Consultant
Present value of husband’s partnership interest in his employer, relating to husband’s employment as a hedge fund manager, could be assigned to marital estate for purposes of equitable distribution in divorce action, where partnership interest entitled husband to share of large profit pool and partnership interest encompassed both a reasonably predictable stream of future distributions based on consistency of past distributions of partnership profits, and enforceable contractual right to future distributions on withdrawal or retirement through non-vested withdrawal payments made over ten years, though husband’s annual share of partnership’s surplus profits was tied partially to success of hedge funds he managed and was susceptible to variability of financial markets; husband’s 16‑year performance as partner provided watermarks for distributions of partnership profits he received in poor‑performing and high‑performing years.
Laura Morgan is a Family Law Consultant. Laura is available for consultation, brief writing and research on family law issues throughout the country. She can be reached through her website. www.famlawconsult.com
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