Connecticut is an equitable distribution property state. When a marriage is dissolved the court can grant to the husband or wife all or any part of the estate of the other after considering all the required statutory criteria. This “all-property” equitable distribution scheme means that presenting admissible evidence establishing the value of assets and the amount of income flow can be critical to the court’s decision and a party’s financial future postdivorce.
The broad mandate to consider “all property” requires the court to value assets. To do so the court needs adequate and convincing admissible evidence presented. When the asset is significant and not easily valued, a forensic expert and a forensic accounting may be critical to valuing it. The state Supreme Court noted in Bornemann v. Bornemann, 245 Conn. 508, that “when neither party in a dissolution proceeding chooses to introduce detailed information as to the value of a given asset, neither party may later complain that it is not satisfied with the court’s valuation of that asset.”
