Manchester
Address:
St James's Court
Brown Street
Manchester
M2 1DH
Liverpool
Address:
5th Floor
Horton House
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Liverpool, L2 3PF
London
Address:
1st Floor
Holborn Gate
330 High Holborn
London, WC1V 7QT
Matrimonial Finance
John Grogan has a particular reputation as an expert and adviser in matrimonial cases. He is regularly recommended by counsel and the judiciary. He is an affiliate member of Resolution and a regular speaker on matrimonial finance topics at Family Law conferences and to private audiences of family lawyers.
In parallel with his expert witness work, John has spent his entire career working as a professional adviser to proprietors of private businesses, and continues to do so. This has naturally given him a thorough understanding the workings of family companies, and particularly of the different methods by which proprietors can withdraw income from their businesses and the tax implications of the various methods. It therefore comes as second nature to him to provide information and advice on the same matters in relation to businesses which are involved in ancillary relief claims where he is instructed.
He has a particular interest in the theory and practice of business valuations and is an active member of the Valuations Special Interest Group of the ICAEW.
He is a chartered tax adviser as well as a chartered accountant and is particularly well qualified to explain the tax issues, especially in relation to capital gains tax, that regularly arise in matrimonial cases.
John is fully engaged in the collaborative approach. In November 2008 he became one of the first few forensic accountants in the country to complete Resolution's formal collaborative training for joint experts. He is a member of the Manchester and Central London PODs. He welcomes opportunities to assist in collaborative cases and fully supports this method of resolving cases effectively and efficiently when it is appropriate.
Unlike certain of our competitors, John welcomes instructions as a single joint expert. Indeed, most of his instructions are of this type, and he is well aware of the special responsibilities that the role entails. He is also entirely happy to be asked to help and advise individual parties at any stage of the ancillary relief process. This can range from assisting parties with the preparation of their own financial disclosure, commenting on the other party's Form E and suggesting lines of enquiry, through to reviewing the reports of other accountants, drafting questions and evaluating responses.
The cases in which John has been jointly instructed to report on the valuation and liquidity of businesses are too numerous to mention individually. Suffice it to say that they cover a broad range of industries and all types of business structure.
The following case examples illustrate some of the other types of instructions that John regularly receives:
| • | Instructed on behalf of a wife to report on the husband's very substantial earnings as a senior employee of a City merchant bank and explain the tax treatment thereof in the context of a complex remuneration structure involving the deferral of tax by the use of offshore employee benefit trusts. Subsequently jointly instructed by both parties to provide a further report on the basis on which the agreed division of assets in the case could be achieved taking into account all the tax consequences of the transfers of assets and the crystallisation of the husband's deferred tax liabilities. Second report commended for its clarity and helpfulness by the judge granting the consent order in the High Court. |
| • | Acting as accountancy adviser to the wife in an ancillary relief case where the veracity of the husband's disclosure of his business interests was in doubt. Carried out desktop enquiries in a number of offshore jurisdictions and assisted in drafting questions and evaluating responses. |
| • | Jointly instructed to provide an expert's report on the tax implications of a proposed settlement in an ancillary relief case involving the use of cash deposits held in offshore accounts by parties resident but not domiciled in the UK, requiring detailed examination of and commentary on the remittance basis of taxation. |
| • | Jointly instructed to provide an expert's report on the CGT implications of the liquidation of a mixed portfolio of investment properties. |
| • | John was jointly instructed to value a company engaged in the construction industry owned by the husband and to comment on liquidity and income potential. After John issued his report and then provided responses to questions raised on behalf of the husband, the husband sought and received permission from the Court to rely on a new report prepared by another accountant putting forward significantly different views. John was then re-instructed as the wife’s expert. Both experts gave evidence at the final hearing at the Principal Registry, at which the judge accepted John’s valuation of the company, preferring his evidence to that of his opponent on every point of difference. The husband was ordered to pay half of this firm’s costs for John’s attendance at the final hearing. |