Question:
My wife left me with two young children to raise. She owns part of a company and may be having an affair with the owner. They have been fighting giving me the true value of the company, her ownershp percentage, and business numbers. I know she was given a bigger percentage of the company than she admits to. I had a supoena served on them, but the company hired a very large legal firm to fight it which leads me to believe that they are hiding the true value. I offered to make it confidential, but they still are fighting it with a 51 page brief. I am running low on being able to pay legal expenses. I want to prove her company's true value so I can keep the house my children and I are living in. My lawyer said I should try to find points and authorities in opposition, or a case citing it so we can use it in the case. I am getting stuck in not being able to pay for additional help at this point. I have spent a lot of time online, but can't find the right stuff. They keep referring to something like Schnabel vs. Supreme Court in their 51 page nightmare. This is a California case. HELP! Please point me in the right direction. I have two young children and it scares me to death that we may very well lose the roof over our heads soon due to her total lack of care and lack of normal mothering skills.
Answer:
I am not licensed in California and therefore I cannot answer your question specifically to the laws of that State. I do not understand why you would be searching for legal opinions to support your position. That would typically be the job of your attorney. You can look at findlaw.com for a free service or westlaw.com for a pay service, but it will be difficult for a lay person to find appropriate counter-authorities. If you wife is an owner of a small company you should be able access the books of the company in my jurisdiction. Obviously if she is employed by a company like IBM and just owns stock you would not be allowed to review IBM's accounting records. Regardless if you have a right to review the numbers in my jurisdiction you would need an expert witness (business evaluator) to testify concerning the value of the company and the value of her interest in the company.