Practical procedure: Divorce hurts…

The facts of the case heard by the Federal Supreme Court on 24.11.2022 have a touch of “soap opera” about them: a successful orthodontist and a penniless (but Ferrari-driving) car mechanic are divorcing. Among other things, the value of the practice and the car garage are in dispute.

Facts of the case

The valuations submitted to the lower courts resulted in an equalization obligation of the wife to her husband of initially CHF 217,000 (Cantonal Court) and then CHF 211,000 (High Court). Before the Federal Supreme Court, the appellant applied for this to be set at just CHF 7,000.

In essence, the Federal Supreme Court had to answer the question of whether and to what extent the personal nature of the orthodontic company was sufficiently taken into account in its valuation. Specifically, this company was valued using the practitioner method, whereby – in order to take this circumstance into account – the net asset value was set at 90% and the capitalized earnings value at 10%.

Read the full blog post here.