After bounding the initial hurdles to getting parties divorced in a contested matter like, sorting out the date of separation, meeting the statutory waiting periods, and getting the case to the point where a hearing officer can make decisions about the apportionment of assets and debts, most cases are straightforward. The assets and debts are gathered and much of what is left for the hearing officer to do (or for the parties and their attorneys when settling) is to figure out the percentages to each party and the plan for implementation. Cases where parties are self-employed, complex business cases, or even wage earner cases where a lack of documentation complicates the characterization of certain assets and debts can be trickier. The biggest problems come when there may be legitimate questions about whether an asset actually exists or may exist in the future and, if it does, whether it is possible to divide it at all.

Such situations may come about when one of the spouses is a financial adviser. Often, when a financial adviser either chooses to stay at a current firm and renegotiate their compensation or, more commonly, when an adviser offers themselves out to multiple firms to see where they can get the best deal, the compensation at the new firm will of course include a salary but may also include up-front lump sum bonuses “repayable” over a course of years. Said “bonuses” are structured as loans and accompanied by promissory notes repayable in periodic forgiven amounts (typically monthly). The actual periodic repayment amounts may then be forgiven by the financial firm but are itemized on the adviser’s pay advices so that taxes on the forgiven periodic amounts may be collected. The loans are only actually repayable should the advisor separate from the firm or otherwise break other covenants.

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