Opinion ID: 1597966
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: whether the chancellor erred by including dr. mace's medical practice as a marital asset.

Text: ¶ 8. This Court has yet to determine whether a professional practice is an asset subject to the equitable distribution of marital assets dictated by Ferguson v. Ferguson, 639 So.2d 921, 928 (Miss.1994). Though the issue was recently raised in Brame v. Brame, 796 So.2d 970 (Miss. 2001), this Court clearly and expressly stated that it did not reach the issue of the chancery court's treatment of the husband's law practice as a marital asset as that issue was not raised by either party on certiorari and was not necessary to the Court's decision. Id. at 972-73. This is, therefore, an issue of first impression. ¶ 9. This Court first addressed the subject of professional degrees as marital property in Guy v. Guy, 736 So.2d 1042 (Miss.1999). There we concluded that a professional degree acquired by one spouse during a marriage is not marital property. This Court, however, is not faced in the case sub judice with the question of an educational degree. Rather, the question is whether a spouse may be awarded an equitable percentage of the income-producing enterprise that was made possible by the other spouse's professional degree. The question is entirely different, as is the answer. As the opinions of our sister jurisdictions indicate, it is a sound rule that, although the individual right to practice is not a property right subject to distribution, the value of the practice as a business is subject to distribution. ¶ 10. In Guy, this Court, relying upon the majority rule that a professional degree is not an asset subject to equitable distribution, cited opinions from eighteen jurisdictions. [1] Of these eighteen jurisdictions which hold, as does Mississippi, that a professional degree is not a marital asset capable of equitable distribution, sixteen have held that a professional practice is a marital asset capable of equitable distribution. [2] The two jurisdictions which have not yet held that a professional practice is a marital asset, Massachusetts and Wyoming, have apparently not yet reached the question. ¶ 11. A practice, unlike a degree or license, can be sold. Its value is found in its facilities, equipment, fixtures, furniture, accounts receivable, and, some courts have held, good will. [3] While this Court has recognized that an educational degree is personal to its holder and nontransferable, Guy, 736 So.2d at 1044, the marketability of a professional practice distinguishes it from a degree. Also, the rule that a professional license is not marital property does not prevent the practice from being marital property as the value of the practice does not include the seller's license. ¶ 12. The question posed in the case at bar is significantly controlled by the facts of the case. Where, as here, a couple marries, the wife works to put husband through medical school, and then the wife stays home to raise their child who at the time of the divorce was only 16 years of age, this Court has consistently stated that such spouse is entitled to an equitable share. We find that the chancery court correctly determined that Dr. Mace's medical practice was a marital asset subject to equitable division.