In Re Marriage of Nichols

Opinion

SCOTLAND, J.

These appeals from the judgment of dissolution of the 22-year marriage of Claudia Nichols (wife) and Richard Nichols (husband) and from a postjudgment order awarding attorney fees and costs center on a dispute over the value of a community asset, husband’s shareholder interest in his law firm.

Wife’s expert valued the interest by determining the book value of the law firm’s net assets—its fixed assets such as furniture plus its accounts receivable and work in progress, minus its liabilities—and multiplying that figure by husband’s percentage interest in the firm. Using this…