Notes from the ledger
Short, practical reading on the financial questions that decide contribution, partition, and damages cases in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Written for litigators, readable in five minutes. Financial analysis, not legal advice.
Family & partition Expert practice & damages Government contracts
Family, partition & co-ownership
Contribution, tracing, and documentation questions in DC, Maryland, and Virginia matters.
How contribution ratios actually get computed
Three choices move a contribution ratio more than any single payment: how you categorize, who you attribute, and where you cut off.
Read the note → Virginia PracticeVirginia partition: why documentation drives the leverage
Partition doesn't always end with “sell it and split by title.” When contributions come into play, the party with the organized ledger negotiates from a different position.
Read the note → DocumentationWhen a deed and a written agreement tell different stories
Whether a later deed overrides an earlier co-ownership agreement is a legal question. What the parties actually did afterward is a financial one.
Read the note → Maryland PracticeTracing non-marital funds in a Maryland divorce: what the records have to show
“The down payment came from my inheritance” is only as strong as the paper trail from the inheritance to the closing table. Here is what that trail looks like.
Read the note → Virginia PracticeSeparate, marital, or hybrid: documenting contributions to property in a Virginia divorce
Hybrid property arguments live or die on documentation. A ledger that separates the down payment from the mortgage principal from the renovation makes the argument possible.
Read the note → DC PracticePartition in DC Superior Court: building the accounting between co-owners
A partition sale answers “how much is it worth.” The harder question is “who gets what,” and that comes down to an accounting of contributions, income, and use.
Read the note → MethodologyPost-separation mortgage payments: how the credit gets computed
One spouse keeps paying the mortgage after the other moves out. The credit sounds simple until you split the payment into its parts and ask who lived there.
Read the note → InvestigationLifestyle analysis: when a cash business claims it earns nothing
Tax returns describe what was reported, not what was earned. Three methods turn bank deposits, spending, and net worth into an income estimate, each with a known weakness.
Read the note → EngagementWhat a forensic accountant costs in a small case, and how fixed-fee scoping works
The fee is a function of the records and the questions, not the size of the marital estate. Define both, and the price can be fixed before the work starts.
Read the note →Expert practice & commercial damages
Structuring engagements, reading the other side's report, and choosing the damages model.
Reading an opposing expert's report: start dates and asymmetry
Opposing reports rarely fail on arithmetic. They fail on choices, and two of them are worth checking in almost every report you'll see.
Read the note → Expert PracticeWhat counsel should send a damages expert in the first week
The first week of an expert engagement sets the pace for everything after it. Here is what lets the expert scope the work and flag gaps before they become deadline problems.
Read the note → Expert PracticeConsulting expert or testifying expert? Structuring the engagement from day one
The expert's role affects what gets disclosed and how the file is organized. Decide the structure early, even if the designation decision waits.
Read the note → Commercial DamagesLost profits or lost business value? Choosing the damages model
The same injury can be measured as a stream of lost profits or as a drop in the value of the business. The choice drives the number, and doubling up is the classic mistake.
Read the note →Government contracts
Quantum and cost questions in claims against, and on behalf of, the federal government.
Have a question the notes don't answer?
A short scoping call is the fastest way to find out whether the numbers can carry your argument.
Conflicts are checked before we discuss the merits of any matter.