Establishing the existence or absence of business/commercial goodwill value in a divorce.
Sometimes a business is a marital asset.
When the value of a business that is a marital asset is divided in divorce, the question of the “goodwill value” of the business will usually arise.
Goodwill is defined by Black’s Law Dictionary as “a business’s reputation, patronage, and other intangible assets that are considered when appraising the business, esp. for purchase; the ability to earn income in excess of the income that would be expected from the business viewed as a mere collection of assets.” (Black’s Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019))
The Utah appellate case of Marroquin v. Marroquin defined institutional or enterprise goodwill as “based on the intangible, but generally marketable, existence in a business of established relations with employees, customers and suppliers, and may include factors such as a business location, its name recognition and its business reputation” (¶15, 440 P.3d 757 (Utah App. 2019)). In contrast, “Personal goodwill is based on an individual’s “reputation for competency” and is not subject to distribution upon divorce.” (Id.) This is why, in Marroquin v. Marroquin, where the court determined the only goodwill associated with the husband’s business was that of personal goodwill, the value of such goodwill was not subject to distribution upon divorce of the parties. Consequently, requiring the husband to pay the spouse part of the value ascribed to the personal goodwill would have been inequitable.
In the Utah appellate case of Stonehocker v. Stonehocker (2008 UT App 11, 176 P.3d 476 (Utah Ct. App. 2008)), the value of the husband’s business would be determined independent of any goodwill component where the business was the product of the husband’s reputation, goodwill, and sole efforts, and there could be no good will in a business that was dependent for its existence upon the husband who conducted the enterprise and would vanish were the husband to die, retire or quit work (Id. at ¶ 44).
Most small businesses do not have business or commercial goodwill, but that does not stop many spouses from claiming that business/commercial goodwill exists, that it exists in prodigious quantities, and that the spouse making the claims is entitled to a big ‘ole cash award equal to half of the alleged business/commercial goodwill.
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277
Tags: Business, division, goodwill, marital asset, reputation, spouse's business