Law Commons^™

A Principaled Approach To Valuing Career Goodwill As Distributable Community Property, Brian K. Matise

Student Thesis Honors (1996-2008)

This essay presents the thesis that the enhanced earnings capacity of a career (human capital) that results from the investment of community labor and community funds during a marriage is an intangible asset, career goodwill, that can be valued in the same manner as other forms of goodwill. Other commentators, most notably Allen Parkman, have proposed valuing human capital in a similar manner. Courts have been inconsistent in their recognition of this goodwill because of conceptual difficulties in understanding the nature of goodwill and because courts fail to understand how to value this goodwill. The essay presents a principled approach …