Listen to this one: I recently worked on a divorce case in which the separating couple had agreed to bring in a neutral business valuation analyst, to help ascertain what the husband’s business was worth, in order to craft an equitable settlement that would include spousal maintenance. That’s a smart, prudent, and commendable move.

In my last newsletter, I gave you what I hope is a good working overview of executive compensation such as stock options. I explained how this type of “payment” is purposely deferred, typically over a rolling period of several years, in order to incentivize the employee to stay with the company, and also help it grow, so that he or she can eventually cash in on its growth and heftier stock price.