- 8 -
E. Petitioners’ Separation and Its Effect on the Amway
Activity
Upon becoming Amway distributors in August 1994, petitioners
assigned themselves different roles. Because Mrs. Meyer had
virtually no time to spend operating a business outside the home
due to parental obligations, and because of Mr. Meyer’s
experience as a salesman, the task of operating the Amway
activity was initially assumed by Mr. Meyer. Indeed, on their
income tax returns, petitioners identified Mr. Meyer as
“proprietor” of the distributorship.
In contrast, Mrs. Meyer assumed responsibility for taking
care of the paperwork for the Amway activity. This
responsibility included inputting data related to income and
expenses onto Quicken, the personal finance software program.
Mrs. Meyer would then periodically compile a list of expenses for
the preceding month. In addition to such paperwork tasks, Mrs.
Meyer also “associated” with the wives of prospective and actual
“downline” distributors.
In or about 1996 petitioners experienced marital problems
that lead to their separation in October 1996 and the
commencement of an action for divorce that December. Mr. Meyer
disassociated himself from the Amway distributorship, and Mrs.
Meyer assumed her husband’s role. In particular, petitioners
filed a Business Status Change Form with Amway in October 1996,
which form served to remove Mr. Meyer’s name from the
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011