Court Opinion

ID: 9695174
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:10:44.97597+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:09.514523
License: Public Domain

DEL SOLE, Judge,
concurring:
I join my colleagues in the majority in the determination that the partnership interest of the plaintiff acquired during the term of the marriage is marital property for the purposes of distribution. I also join the holding of the majority that the goodwill attributable to that partnership interest is marital property subject to distribution.
I write separately to express my view that this holding is in keeping with our determination in Beasley v. Beasley, 359 Pa.Super. 20, 518 A.2d 545 (1986) where we stated:
We, therefore, hold that goodwill of a sole proprietorship under these facts is not an element of present value; we also hold that the records of the firm may not be appraised to determine present value and to evaluate earning capacity.1
However, I believe that we are by implication overruling the holding of this court in DeMasi v. DeMasi, 366 Pa.Su*536per. 19, 530 A.2d 871 (1987) wherein a panel of this court held that a husband-physician's fifty percent interest in a corporation which provided medical services, where the husband was one of two physicians servicing patients, had no present value and was not marital property to be divided.
Factually and functionally there is no difference between the partnership in the case sub judice and the interest of the professional in DeMasi. It is my view that DeMasi is implicitly overturned, and if not, severely limited in its application.
Since I join the majority in its determination that the partnership interest is a marital asset subject to distribution, I would remand to the trial court for the purposes of determining whether or not the master's evaluation is fair and reasonable under the circumstances of record.

. That is not to say that goodwill expressed as a share of a partnership or professional corporation, with an ascertainable value which can be purchased or transferred, is to be excluded. Such is not the case here.