Preventive Family Law for Nevada

What You Should Know About Alimony in Nevada - Part III

Alimony in Nevada can take may different forms:

Temporary Alimony (also called alimony pendente lite or provisional alimony) refers to payments made while the litigation is pending.

Lump Sum (also called alimony in gross) refers to alimony in the form of a single and definite sum that is not subject to modification.

Periodic Alimony (also called permanent alimony) refers to alimony payable in weekly, monthly or other regular installments. Periodic Alimony can be ordered either for an indefinite period of time, or until a specific date is reached or a number of payments are rendered. Such as an awarded of 36 monthly payments of a specificed amount.

Rehabilitative Alimony (also called specified purpose alimony, short-term alimony, or transitional alimony) refers to payments made to assist a divorced party to acquire education or training in order to enter or re-enter the workforce. The intent is to help the person become self-supporting.

Generally, to receive an award of rehabilitative alimony, the receiving party must show that the payor spouse obtained greater education or job skills during the marriage and that the receiving spouse provided financial support for the family while the other spouse was obtaining those job skills or that education.

Rehabilitative alimony includes payments for such things as:

• Testing of the recipient’s skills relating to a job, career or profession;
• Evaluation of the recipient’s abilities and goals relating to a job, career or profession;
• Guidance for the recipient in establishing a specific plan for training or education relating to a job, career or profession;
• Subsidization of an employer’s costs incurred in training the recipient;
• Assisting the recipient to search for a job; or
• Payment of the costs of tuition, books and fees for:
The equivalent of a high school diploma;
College courses which are directly applicable to the recipient’s goals for his career; or
Courses of training in skills desirable for employment.

Rolling the Dice on Minority Interest Discounts?

The term "minority interest" when used in the context of a divorce settlement generally refers to real estate and/or business interests in which the parties hold less than a majority share.  If you are the owner of the property being valued, you may want to claim a discount against the value of the property.  Whether you think a discount is appropriate, and what amount that discount should be, probably depends upon which side of the argument you are on.

Generally, the argument is made that a discount in value is appropriate because the minority interest owner has lack of control, lack of marketability, and/or has a cost to partition the interest. 

For example, assume that you own an apartment building with four other people.  1 person owns 60% of the property and each of the other owners has a 10% interest.  The value of the property is 1 million dollars.  If you were one of the 10% owners, your spouse will likely argue that your 10% interest is worth $100,000 or 1/10th of the total property value.  However how much control do you have over the property.  If the business decisions are made by majority rule, you may have very little control over the way the property is managed.  Additionally, do you have the right to sell your 10% interest to anyone that you choose, or do the other owners have a say.  If there are restrictions on your ability to sell the property that may effect the marketability of the property.  The argument being that if you had to sell your interest in the building you might receive less than $100,000 since you would have a smaller number of people you could market the interest to. 

The courts in Nevada have allowed discounts for minority interests, however the amount of the discount has varied significantly and seems to depend upon a number of factors such as:

• The size of the interest
• The number of other owners involved
• The practicality of dividing the interest
• The type of business interest and/or use of the land
• The availability of financing for the undivided interest

Before assigning a value to a minority business interest it is always wise to check with a qualified business or real estate appraiser who can provide additional information about appropriate discounts for minority interests.