Business Disputes in Divorce
Divorce can make your personal life unpleasant in a myriad of ways, but if you’re a small business owner or share property of substantial value with your former spouse, divorce can have serious financial and professional consequences, as well. Fighting to maintain a controlling share of your business or a fair portion of your small business often means finding an attorney who understands both business law and family law. Learn more about business issues in divorce below, and contact an experienced Guntersville family law attorney to protect your most important property during an Alabama divorce.
Divorce as a Business Owner
During a marriage, a spouse’s earnings, or the businesses they form, will be considered marital property. Under Alabama state law, marital property will be divided equitably between the spouses upon divorce. When spouses enter a marriage having already created businesses, the business will be considered separate property, but if marital property is used to grow or expand the business during the marriage, then at least a portion of the value of the business will be considered marital property, subject to equitable division in divorce.
Proper business valuation can have a major impact on the division of assets in a divorce. At the most basic level, the business should be valued at what a buyer would pay to purchase the business. Each spouse will then be entitled to their equitable share of that fair market value in the divorce. A skilled business valuation attorney will take far more into account when calculating what your business is worth and how much of that worth is contingent on you remaining in control of that business.
Sophisticated Legal Help Is Often Needed with Complex Property Division Issues in Divorce
Dealing with a business in the division of marital property requires taking into account factors such as the value of the personal goodwill you provide to the business, as well as a detailed accounting of the value of your nonmarital contributions to the business. Without skilled and knowledgeable legal help, a business owner may lose control of or be forced to sell their business to provide their spouse with their share. When spouses own and operate businesses as a team, matters can become even more complicated. Experienced divorce attorneys are skilled at finding creative solutions to property division so that devoted business owners can remain in control of the companies they’ve built. With the right kind of help, you’ll find there are solutions to even the most seemingly-intractable divorce disputes that allow both spouses to feel that they have received a fair result from a division of marital assets.
