Court Opinion

ID: 9682682
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:14:49.11154+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:40.612786
License: Public Domain

STEWART, Justice,
concurring.
I respectfully disagree with the majority’s holding that the value of the law firm’s goodwill is not to be considered in evaluating the community’s partnership interest. The firm’s goodwill is an asset of the partnership entity, and it does not belong to either the separate or community estate of the individual partners. Bromberg, Source and Comment, TEX.REV.CIV.STAT.ANN. art. 6132b, § 28-A (Vernon 1970). Thus, the Nail decision is inapplicable here. The goodwill of the law partnership is analogous to the corporate goodwill addressed by the court in Geesbreght v. Geesbreght, 570 S.W.2d 427, 435 (Tex.Civ.App.—Fort Worth 1978, writ dism’d). The firm’s good will enhances the value of the community partnership interest.
The partnership agreement does not control the value of the individual partnership interests. The asset being divided is the husband’s interest in the partnership as a going business, not his contractual death benefits or withdrawal rights. Slater v. Slater, 100 Cal.App.3d 241, 160 Cal.Rptr. 686, 688-689 (1980). The formula in the partnership agreement may represent the present value of the husband’s interest, but it should not preclude a consideration of other facts. Slater, 160 Cal.Rptr. at 689; Stern v. Stern, 66 N.J. 340, 331 A.2d 257 (1975). The value of the husband’s interest should be based on the present value of the partnership entity as a going business, which would include consideration of partnership goodwill, if any. Goodwill is property and, although intangible, it is an integral part of a business, the same as its physical assets. Taormina v. Culicchia, 355 S.W.2d 569, 573 (Tex.Civ.App.—El Paso 1962, writ ref’d n.r.e.); Ordway-Saunders Co. v. Little, 568 S.W.2d 711, 717 (Tex.Civ.App.—Amarillo 1978, writ ref’d n.r.e.). Whether the law firm possessed goodwill, and, if so, its value are fact questions for the trier of facts. Taormina, 355 S.W.2d at 574.
The majority are concerned with future contingencies. All assets of the community estate are valued as of the time of dissolution of the marriage. There is no valid reason to exclude a professional partnership interest from this basic rule when the part*750ner intends to continue as a member of the firm.
I otherwise concur.
AKIN, J., joins in this opinion.