Dugan v. Dugan

James Dugan (plaintiff), an attorney operating his practice as a professional corporation, sued his wife Rosaleen (defendant) for divorce after twenty years of marriage. The trial court's equitable distribution of the marital estate included the value of James's law practice - roughly $250,000 total, with about $180,000 attributed to goodwill (the practice's reputation-based value beyond its physical assets). James appealed, arguing that a legal practice's goodwill should not be treated as distributable marital property.