Tracy Coenen’s Lifestyle Analysis in Divorce Cases, Second Edition
Lifestyle Analysis in Divorce Cases: Investigating Spending and Finding Hidden Income and Assets, Second Edition. By Tracy Coenen
The American Bar Association Family Law Section recently published the second edition of Tracy Coenen’s invaluable resource Lifestyle Analysis in Divorce Cases: Investigating Spending and Finding Income and Assets. Coenen’s book clearly explains the lifestyle analysis, an important but often confusing calculation of income and expenses in a divorce case, often used to establish parties’ standard of living. Lifestyle analyses play important roles in determination of alimony, property division, and other financial aspects in a divorce.
Miles Mason advised Coenen on certain matters for the new book and is quoted extensively. Early in the book, Mason provides advice on discovering if, and if so, why, a potential financial expert witness’s testimony has been excluded in a particular case. He recommends using Google and the Daubert Tracker (a national database of appellate opinions), as well as simply inquiring among other family lawyers to obtain a potential expert’s history.
Later in Coenen’s book, Mason explains the use and definition of the phrase “to a reasonable degree of accounting certainty.” Since there is unlikely an official definition of this phrase in any court, he explains the phrase as meaning: “I am comfortable and confident in my opinion. My opinion was based on professional judgement and review of the information and documents provided to me … and I used the education, training, and experience gained over my career.”
Mason later advises when it comes to draft reports, a contentious issue which Mason says, “can be toxic.” He advises not making draft reports in the first place or not sharing the analysis with the attorney and client until the draft is conservative. Mason also states that, “If the changes between the draft report and the final report have an equal number of changes increasing and decreasing the net resulting opinion, sharing the draft report may not matter. Go ahead and provide draft reports.”
Coenen’s book, containing more advice from Mason, as well as much more pertinent information on lifestyle analyses in divorce cases, is an indispensable resource for family law attorneys looking for information and advice regarding a difficult topic and is available at the ABA website.
Here is an interview with Tracy discussing her book’s first edition.
Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, CFF has personally investigated several hundred frauds in a wide variety of industries. Her work includes fraud examinations and financial investigations in cases of embezzlement, financial statement fraud, investment fraud, divorce and family law, and insurance fraud. Tracy has served as an expert witness in numerous cases in state and federal courts involving damage calculations, commercial contract disputes, shareholder disputes and criminal defense. Learn more about Tracy’s practice here.
