Complex Dissolutions, Clear Terms
When a marriage involves substantial assets, business interests, or complex property, the divorce is a commercial dispute as much as a family matter. Mr. McKenna brings four decades of trial readiness to Nevada’s most consequential dissolutions.
Where the Stakes Justify Trial
Nevada is a community property state. The identification and valuation of community versus separate property is often the most contested aspect of a high-asset dissolution, requiring close attention to account histories, acquisition timelines, and the commingling analyses that govern what the court ultimately divides.
Where operating businesses, professional practices, or partnership interests are in play, the matter becomes a commercial dispute as much as a family one. Valuation, goodwill, and control questions demand counsel equally at home in corporate and family courts.
Real estate portfolios — residential holdings, commercial properties, and development interests — add their own layer: title histories, outstanding obligations, rental income streams, and ownership structures that pre-date or span the marriage.
Custody and support disputes are often contested in parallel when the financial resources themselves are in dispute. The engagement covers those disputes through trial as part of the same matter.
Prepared to Try, Positioned to Settle
Most high-asset divorces settle. They settle on terms that favor the prepared party. The flat-fee model means Mr. McKenna is prepared to try the case from day one — motion practice, deposition schedule, and expert engagement proceed from the moment of retention — which creates the leverage that produces favorable settlements.
A firm price is given at engagement and is paid in full upon retention. Expert witness fees — forensic accountants, business valuators, custody evaluators, and appraisers — are retained by the client separately and are borne as incurred.
Where Nevada Community-Property Doctrine Drives the Case
Nevada is a community-property jurisdiction. NRS Chapter 123 classifies property acquired during marriage; NRS Chapter 125 governs the procedure for dissolution. Under NRS 125.150, the court divides community property and community debts equally absent a compelling reason; the same statute requires written findings whenever an unequal division is ordered. NRS 123.220 codifies the presumption that property acquired during marriage is community in character.
Separate-property tracing is the analytical core of every high-asset Nevada divorce. The Nevada Supreme Court has held that the spouse claiming separate property bears the burden of tracing assets back to a separate-property source by clear and convincing evidence. Where separate funds have been commingled with community funds — joint accounts, post-marriage refinances, mortgage paydowns from a community account — the tracing analysis becomes a forensic-accounting exercise that must be developed long before trial.
Business valuation in Nevada family courts follows the framework set out in Ford v. Ford, 105 Nev. 672 (1989), and subsequent decisions, which permit valuation by income, market, or asset approach as the matter requires. Closely held businesses, professional practices, and partnership interests typically need a retained business valuator; the engagement letter clarifies that valuation expert costs are separate from the flat fee.
Pretrial motion practice — motions in limine on valuation methodology, motions to compel financial discovery under NRCP 26 and NRCP 37, motions for protective order — is where high-asset divorces are won or lost long before trial. Custody, when implicated, follows the best-interest framework codified at NRS 125C.0035 and the joint-custody preference at NRS 125C.001.
- NRS Chapter 125 ↗Dissolution of marriage; community-property division.
- NRS 125.150 ↗Adjudication of property rights; equal division presumption.
- NRS Chapter 123 ↗Rights of husband and wife; community/separate classification.
- NRS 125C.0035 ↗Best-interest factors when custody is at issue.
- NRCP 26 / NRCP 37 ↗Civil discovery; sanctions for non-compliance.
Four Decades of Nevada Trial Practice
Mr. McKenna’s family law engagements are governed by the same principles that have produced published opinions across Nevada’s state and federal courts for more than forty years: meticulous preparation, selective case acceptance, and trial readiness from day one. Review the full record of representative matters →
Frequently Asked
For Dissolutions Where the Stakes Are Significant
Mr. McKenna reviews inquiries personally and responds within three business days to matters that meet the criteria of the practice.