Can personal goodwill attach to proceeds from the sale of a business?
The South Carolina Court of Appeals recently issued a decision from a Beaufort divorce case finding that certain proceeds from the sale of a dental practice did not contain "personal goodwill" which would have passed to the exclusive benefit of Husband/Dentist. Bostic v Bostic.
The court distinguished its ruling in Moore v Moore from the sale of Dr. Bostic's dental practice. The court reasoned that the sale of the dental practice was complete and there was no continuing involvement on his part in the subsequent practice, such as consulting, advising, etc. To the contrary, Moore was a continuing enterprise, and it was appropriate to break out personal goodwill in that situation.
It is important to note that the court did not say the sales proceeds could never included personal good will, only that "there was no evidence" of personal goodwill existing in the sales proceeds.
Question: What would that evidence need to look like?