CALCULATION OF ENHANCED EARNING CAPACITY STEMMING FROM A DEGREE EARNED DURING MARRIAGE IN THE CONTEXT OF ALLOCATING MARITAL PROPERTY IN A DIVORCE PROCEEDING EXPLAINED (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department determined Supreme Court property calculated the amount allocated to plaintiff wife for the enhanced earning capacity of defendant husband stemming from his MBA degree earned during the marriage:
The defendant’s MBA degree is marital property subject to equitable distribution in this case… . The value of the MBA degree is measured by the present value of the enhanced earning capacity which it affords the defendant … . The non-titled spouse is required to establish the value of the enhanced earning capacity and demonstrate that the non-titled spouse made a substantial contribution to the acquisition of the degree … .
Where a holder of an advanced degree has already embarked on his or her career and has acquired a history of actual earnings, the theoretical valuation method, which compares the average lifetime earnings of a college graduate against the average lifetime earnings of a person holding the relevant advanced degree, must be discarded in favor of a more pragmatic and individualized analysis based on the titled spouse’s remaining professional earning potential … . Actual earnings, projected over time, are a recognized proxy for the value of a person’s future earning capacity … . The valuation must be founded in economic reality … . Lynch v Lynch, 2019 NY Slip Op 00105, Second Dept 1-9-19