Unit 1 Assignment Completed
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Unit 1 Assignment: “What’s Mine is Not Yours…Yet”
Angela Campbell
Online Paralegal Certification, Post University
LAW105: Estate Administration and Probate Practice
Professor Salmon
September 3, 2023
2
Unit 1 Assignment: “What’s Mine is Not Yours…Yet”.
There are two types of personal property: tangible personal property and intangible
personal property.
Tangible property can be touched.
These are things like office equipment,
automobiles, airplanes, jewelry, and furnishings, furniture, etc.
Intangible personal property
has no physical existence.
Examples of intangible property include patents, patent
applications, trade names, trademarks, service marks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Although
such property has little or no value, it gives the right to receive something of value. The
ownership of intangible property is recognized by documentation, such as bank statements,
stock or bond certificates, and written contracts. [1]
In the case of
Travis v. Travis,
the wife wanted to appeal the refusal of the trial court
to set a value and divide the “good will” of the husband's law practice.
Her husband was a
47-year-old lawyer who had been licensed to practice law in this state since 1962. The parties
agreed that the value of the marital estate would be set as of September 30, 1985. The debate,
in this case, revolves around the division of his law practice
.
"The `good will' value of any
business is the value that results from the probability that old customers will continue to trade
with an established concern." [2] Even when courts agreed that good will was divisible
intangible property, trial courts apparently had trouble placing a value on it in this case. The
courts agree that good will is valued by “comparing the actual earnings to the earnings which
are expected based on a normal rate of return on investment.” [3] Projected earnings can be
predicted to support alimony so they may be adjusted upward or downward at a later date.
The property division of good will of the law office is too speculative to determine if there is
any predicted value to divide.
The court decided there was no purpose to divide the
intangible property of the “good will” value of the law office in the martial estate.
3
References
[1] D
ENNIS
R H
OWER
, W
ILLS
, T
RUSTS
, A
ND
E
STATE
A
DMINISTRATION
27 (2021),
https://ambassadored.vitalsource.com/books/9780357452301
.
[2]
Travis v. Travis
, 795 P.2d 96 (1990).
[3]
Travis v. Travis
, 795 P.2d 97 (1990).
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