Divorce Steneken

Steneken is always an interesting case that I like to revisit, mainly because it is accused of being the “double dip” case in divorces. The main concern with this case is that it involves the dividing of a business. When a business owner is getting divorced and his business value is being subject to equitable distribution some sticky issues arise when dividing his income between the business value and alimony. This seems like an obvious double dip, but if done correctly it should not be. The way I look at this case is that the business value after deducting reasonable compensation would be split between the moneyed and non-money spouse. Alimony would be calculated based on the reasonable salary earned through the business. In this way you would not be double counting.