Marriage of Fonstein
Supreme Court of California
131 Cal. Rptr. 873 (1976)
During Sarane Fonstein's (plaintiff) marriage to Harold Fonstein (defendant), Harold held an ownership interest in a law partnership, which the trial court found was community property that could not be divided in kind; there was no evidence Harold intended to withdraw from the partnership in the foreseeable future, but the trial court nonetheless valued the community interest based on its withdrawal value, offsetting that value against the tax liability Harold would incur if he actually did withdraw. Sarane appealed the deduction of that potential future tax liability.
Whether the value assigned to a community-property interest in a partnership should be reduced by the amount of anticipated tax liability if the partnership interest were actually cashed out.