Miller v. Miller

14 S.W.3d 903, 70 Ark. App. 64, 2000 Ark. App. LEXIS 266
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedApril 19, 2000
DocketCA 99-346
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 14 S.W.3d 903 (Miller v. Miller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. Miller, 14 S.W.3d 903, 70 Ark. App. 64, 2000 Ark. App. LEXIS 266 (Ark. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

OLLY NEAL, Judge.

Appellant and appellee were divorced pursuant to a decree entered September 11, 1998. In connection therewith, the chancellor divided the parties’ property, awarded tort damages to appellee, and ordered appellant to pay a portion of appellee’s attorney fees and expert witness fees. We affirm with modifications.

Appellant is an architect whose highly specialized practice involves the design of church buildings. His firm is incorporated under the name of Keith Miller Architects & Associates, Inc. The primary issue on appeal is whether the chancellor, in making a division of marital property, erred in her valuation of the corporation. She found that the corporation had a value of $600,000 and ordered appellant to pay appellee half that amount. Payments were to be made in the sum of $30,000 per year for ten years. To secure the payment schedule, appellee was given a lien “on any business entities currently or subsequently owned by [appellant] in the next ten (10) years, or until the debt obligations to [appellee] are fulfilled.”

Appellant’s first argument is that the evidence did not support a valuation of $600,000. Chancery cases are reviewed de novo on appeal. See Bolan v. Bolan, 32 Ark. App. 65, 796 S.W.2d 358 (1990). However, we do not reverse a chancellor’s findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous. See id. At the time a divorce decree is entered, all marital property shall be distributed one-half to each party unless the court finds such division to be inequitable. Ark. Code Ann. § 9-12-315 (Repl. 1998). In this case, appellant does not challenge the inclusion of the business as marital property or the chancellor’s decision to award one-half of its value to appellee. His argument is confined to the propriety of the chancellor’s valuation. A chancellor’s finding regarding the valuation of a business will not be overturned unless it is clearly erroneous. Nicholson v. Nicholson, 11 Ark. App. 299, 669 S.W.2d 514 (1984).

To establish the value of Keith Miller Architects & Associates, Inc., appellee presented the testimony of CPA Rachel Kramer Fletcher, a certified valuation analyst. Fletcher placed a value of $974,000 on the adjusted net assets of the business and estimated a “rule-oKthumb” value of $1,040,000. She determined that the company’s primary assets were a $500,000 blueprint inventory and accounts receivable of $349,532. The remaining assets consisted of cash, loans to shareholders, unbilled contracts, physical property, and land. Fletcher began her analysis by referring to the corporation’s 1996 income-tax return. The return, which was prepared on a cash basis, reflected approximately $108,000 in assets including the cash, the loans to shareholders, the land, and the physical property, less depreciation. However, to arrive at the value of the business, she inserted normalizing entries for items not included in cash-basis accounting. These included the accounts receivable in the amount of $349,532, the $500,000 blueprint inventory, and unbilled contracts in the amount of $66,000. Further, she altered the corporation’s depreciation deduction to reflect the straight-line method rather than the accelerated method used for tax purposes. These calculations resulted in adjusted net assets of $974,000. Then, using an industry-approved rule-of-thumb method for valuation of architecture and engineering firms, she arrived at $1,040,000 as the ultimate value of the company.

Appellant presented no expert witness of his own, but he questioned Fletcher’s valuation methods. His primary concern was the $500,000 she assigned as the value of the corporation’s blueprints. There was evidence at trial that the company had between 50 and 200 blueprints on hand and had, in the past, resold the designs contained therein to new clients. Using appellant’s contract prices, Fletcher calculated that 50 blueprints would have a value of $10,000 each, for a total of $500,000. Appellant denied his ability to resell the blueprints, but appellee, who had worked in the business, and Tim Dowty, appellant’s intern, confirmed that it had been done. Appellant did admit that the blueprints in his office were insured for $250,000. The remainder of Fletcher’s valuation, including the accounts receivable, the unbilled contracts (which were two works in progress), and the value of the company’s physical assets, were gleaned from the corporation’s own financial records.

In his argument on appeal, appellant relies on Tortorich v. Tortorich, 50 Ark. App. 114, 902 S.W.2d 247 (1995), which stands for the proposition that the goodwill of a business is not a divisible item of marital property if it has no value independent of the presence or reputation of a particular individual. However, no goodwill was included in Fletcher’s valuation. Her valuation was based upon the blueprints, the accounts receivable, and other tangible assets of the business. In any event, the chancellor did not blindly rely upon Fletcher’s testimony to establish the value of the corporation. At the close of the evidence, she expressed doubt that the corporation was worth as much as Fletcher had testified. In particular, she was skeptical of the “arbitrary” value that Fletcher placed on the blueprints, although she conceded that they probably had some worth. In her final decree, she valued the business at $600,000, meaning that she deducted approximately $400,000 from Fletcher’s valuation.

Given the chancellor’s careful consideration of the evidence, especially with the testimony of only one expert to rely upon, we cannot say that the value she placed on the business was clearly erroneous. She obviously deducted a substantial amount from Fletcher’s evaluation based upon her doubt regarding the value of the blueprints. The other items included in the valuation had a basis in the evidence and in recognized accounting methods. Additionally, she took into consideration evidence that appellant had been receiving a very good income from the business that enabled him to afford numerous cars and a yacht. In light of the foregoing, we find no error on this point.

Appellant argues next that the chancellor did not have the right to place a lien on his current and future businesses to secure payment of the $300,000. We disagree. First, the chancellor in a divorce case has the power to impose a lien to secure an amount owed pursuant to a property division. See Speer v. Speer, 298 Ark. 294, 766 S.W.2d 927 (1989). Secondly, the lien was justified in this case based upon testimony that appellant had once discussed either filing bankruptcy or scaling down his business in the event of a divorce and based upon evidence of appellant’s rather extravagant spending habits. A chancellor may fashion any reasonable remedy justified by the proof. See Jones u Ray, 54 Ark. App. 336, 925 S.W.2d 805 (1996).

The next set of arguments concerns the chancellor’s award of tort damages to appellee. Appellee testified that, during an argument with appellant in February 1997, he hit her and injured her. As a result, she sought chiropractic treatment and underwent psychological counseling.

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Bluebook (online)
14 S.W.3d 903, 70 Ark. App. 64, 2000 Ark. App. LEXIS 266, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-miller-arkctapp-2000.