Comment by Bryan Mauldin
An effective community property system which in its application is faithful to its precepts must include professional goodwill among the community assets to be divided upon dissolution of marriage. Among the fundamental premises of any community property system are: 1) all property acquired during marriage other than by gift or inheritance or with separate funds is community property, and 2) during the marriage the time, skills, and effort of each spouse are assets of the community, and all property acquired with these assets is community property. Professional goodwill is not only property, it is property acquired with precisely these assets. Thus any professional goodwill accrued during marriage should be considered community property properly divisible upon dissolution of the marital community.
Goodwill, both commercial and professional, is recognized as property, and commercial goodwill is routinely divided as community property. However, disagreement arises in the context of the division of professional goodwill incident to marital dissolution. The problem stems from the difficulty of placing a value on professional goodwill, the sometimes astonishingly high figures that result from such a valuation, the highly illiquid nature of the asset, and a maze of poorly reasoned, irrelevant issues and objections.
About the Author
Bryan Mauldin.
Citation
56 Tul. L. Rev. 313 (1981)