For family lawyers · Referral desk

The valuation desk family lawyers instruct for property settlement matters.

When a property pool includes a private business, the settlement turns on a number neither party controls. Oliver Group prepares independent, signed business valuations for family law property matters — instructed as a single expert or by one party, at a fixed fee your client sees before anything begins.

Oliver Group acts as an independent valuation resource for Australian family lawyers: you instruct us on the business or interest to be valued in a property settlement matter, we confirm scope and a fixed fee in writing before work begins, and we deliver an independent, signed market valuation prepared to be suitable for use in the matter — including the expert's acknowledgment that any duty in a proceeding is to the court, not to the instructing party. Oliver Group pays no referral fees to lawyers and never makes its fee contingent on the concluded value, because either would compromise the independence that gives the report its weight. We prepare the valuation only — we do not give legal or tax advice, and the conduct of the matter stays entirely with you.

Why the valuation is where settlements stall

A family home has a market. A private business has a story each party tells differently — one side sees goodwill and maintainable earnings, the other sees a job that dies with the owner. Left unresolved, that gap becomes the most expensive item in the matter: competing informal appraisals, an accountant's letter each side rejects, and months of correspondence about a number nobody has actually established. An independent valuation replaces the argument with a documented position: methodology stated, evidence weighted, personal versus transferable goodwill addressed, and the reasoning laid out so both sides — and the court, if it comes to that — can see how the number was reached.

How instruction works

·Single expert: both parties jointly instruct Oliver Group under the expert-evidence rules; scope and questions are set in the joint letter of instruction, and communication runs through the parties' representatives
·Party instruction: one side instructs us directly — commonly to test an existing valuation, prepare for negotiation, or brief counsel on the realistic range
·Shadow or review engagements: a confidential review of the other side's valuation identifying what stands, what is exposed, and the questions worth putting to the expert
·In every mode the fee is fixed in writing before work begins, so it can be disclosed, budgeted and, where relevant, shared between parties without surprises

What the report addresses

Family law valuation work has recurring pressure points, and the report deals with them explicitly rather than leaving them for cross-examination: personal versus transferable goodwill where the business depends on one spouse; normalised earnings where family members are on the payroll at non-market rates; entity structures where the interest being valued is a share of a company or trust rather than the business itself; minority interests and what control is realistically worth; and the valuation date, which in a settlement context is current rather than historical and may need updating as the matter runs. Every report states the basis of value, the methodologies tested and rejected, the assumptions relied on, and carries an independence statement and the lead valuer's signature.

Fixed fees your client sees before committing

Add-ons are fixed too: additional entities +$750 each, retrospective valuation dates +$495 each, rush delivery +30% subject to capacity. Clients referred by a lawyer receive 10% off the published fee. There is no hourly billing, so the cost of the valuation cannot itself become a source of dispute.

Engagement	Fixed fee (+GST)	Turnaround	Typical use
Essential	from $1,495	10–14 business days	Single trading entity, clean records, early-stage negotiation
Comprehensive	from $3,995	15–25 business days	Most settlement matters — dual methodologies, normalised earnings, sensitivity analysis
Defensible Valuation File	from $8,995	25–35 business days	Contested matters, complex structures, files likely to be tested
Valuation Range & Scenario Review	from $12,995	30–45 business days	High-conflict matters where the supportable range itself is the battleground

Independence is the product

Oliver Group pays no referral fees or commissions to lawyers, and no fee is ever contingent on the concluded value. That is deliberate: a valuer who pays for referrals or benefits from the outcome hands the other side its first cross-examination question. The value we offer the referring lawyer is different — a fixed price known at instruction, a defined turnaround, a report built to be examined, and a valuer whose only interest in the matter is that the number is supportable.

What we need to start

·The entity or interest to be valued, and the questions the valuation must answer
·The instruction basis — single expert, party-instructed, or review of an existing report
·3–5 years of financial statements and current management accounts (we provide a full document checklist on engagement)
·The intended valuation date and any deadline in the matter's timetable
·We respond with scope, recommended tier and a fixed fee in writing; nothing proceeds until you approve it

Common questions.

Can Oliver Group act as a single expert?+

Yes — we accept joint instruction under the expert-evidence rules, with scope and questions set by the parties' joint letter of instruction. Reports prepared for use in a proceeding include the required acknowledgment that the expert's duty is to the court. Where a matter needs oral evidence, we say so before engagement rather than after.

Do you pay referral fees to family lawyers?+

No — deliberately. A paid referral compromises the independence that makes the report worth instructing. What the referring lawyer gets instead is a fixed fee known before instruction, a defined turnaround, a 10% discount for referred clients, and a report built to withstand the other side's scrutiny.

One spouse runs the business and controls the records. Can you still value it?+

This is the normal case, not the exception. Document production runs through the parties' representatives, and the report states exactly what was provided, what was requested and not provided, and how any gaps were treated — so incomplete disclosure becomes a documented fact in the matter rather than a silent weakness in the valuation.

What about personal goodwill — the business is really just the spouse?+

The report addresses it head-on. Where earnings depend on the personal skill, licence or relationships of one individual, the transferable value can be far lower than a headline multiple suggests — and the reverse claim is often overstated in negotiation. We separate personal from transferable goodwill explicitly and show the reasoning, because that distinction is usually the real argument in the room.

How fast can you deliver when a matter has a timetable?+

Essential engagements run 10–14 business days and Comprehensive 15–25 from receipt of documents; rush delivery is +30% subject to capacity. The realistic constraint in family law work is document production, not valuation time — we flag exactly what is outstanding so delay is attributable, not ambient.

Do you value the whole pool?+

No. We value businesses, private company shares, unit trust interests and goodwill. Real property needs a qualified property valuer, and superannuation interests have their own regime — we work alongside those specialists so each asset in the pool carries the right expert.

Tell us what you need valued.

A fifteen-minute call confirms the tier, the fixed fee and the delivery date — before you commit to anything.

0433 475 518Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm AEST

Fixed fees from $1,495 + GST · 10–35 business days