Sneed v. Johnston

Summary

The court held that personal goodwill tied to a professional practitioner cannot be classified as marital property in an equitable-distribution proceeding because it represents the practitioner's prospective earning capacity and cannot be distributed or transferred independently of the practitioner. The court left the classification of enterprise goodwill undisturbed but reversed the award insofar as it included personal goodwill and remanded for a corrected equitable-distribution order. The court also determined that the enterprise-goodwill issue was not preserved for discretionary review.