AWARDING WIFE A DISTRIBUTIVE SHARE OF HUSBAND’S MEDICAL PRACTICE AND DETERMINING HUSBAND’S MAINTENANCE OBLIGATION BASED UPON INCOME FROM THE PRACTICE DID NOT CONSTITUTE DOUBLE-COUNTING.

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined that distributing part of the value of defendant-husband's medical practice to the wife, and figuring the amount of maintenance defendant was to pay based upon his income from the medical practice, did not constitute double counting:

… [T]he defendant's medical practices, which employ other individuals including several doctors, and his interest in an ambulatory surgical center, are not intangible assets which are “totally indistinguishable” from the income stream upon which his maintenance obligation was based … , and the valuation method used by the plaintiff's expert to determine the fair market value of these assets does not change their essential nature. Accordingly, the Supreme Court erred in concluding that it had no discretion to award the plaintiff any distributive share of the value of these assets because the parties considered the defendant's entire 2010 income in reaching a stipulation as to his maintenance obligation. Palydowycz v Palydowycz, 2016 NY Slip Op 02793, 2nd Dept 4-13-16