If you are going to divorce your partner and own a business, things can easily get complicated. Therefore, it’s a good idea to prepare well for your divorce and protect your business at the same time.
After all, you may have spent a lot of money and time to make your business successful, so you don’t want to have your ex as a business partner. There are various ways divorce can affect the ownership of a business. This page discusses why you should hire a family law lawyer in divorce when you own a business.
How divorce can affect your business
You can be in a bad situation if you decide to divorce when you own a business. There is a good chance that you can be in a business partnership with your ex-spouse. In some states, there is community property law that requires you to give up half of your business to the ex-spouse. Other states have what is called equitable distribution which simply means fair distribution.
Regardless of the scenario, you don’t want any of these to happen to you in a divorce, so you need to take some measures to protect your business. One such measure is to hire the services of a divorce lawyer Barrington. You should remember that letting go of half of your business can mean that some of your other assets can be given to your ex-spouse. A good example is when you have assets, such as a car, house, stocks, and many more.
Rather than giving your ex-spouse half of the business, the marital assets can be shared to make sure that you have your business while your ex-spouse can get an additional share of the marital assets.
Alternatively, you can choose the liquidation of the business so that you can share the proceeds with your ex-spouse. However, many courts don’t like to do this, especially if you were depending on the business to pay family bills.
Protecting your business
There are several ways you can protect yourself in advance so that your business is not affected by your divorce. For example, you can get a prenuptial agreement. A prenup may not guarantee to save your business, but there is a good chance that it can.
You can designate any businesses that are already operating or future businesses as separate property. There should be full disclosure to your partner, and the agreement needs to be in writing and signed before a notary or witnesses. Signing the agreement also needs to be voluntary and it should not be done just a couple of days before the wedding.
Another good way you can protect your business is to get a buy-sell agreement. It’s worth noting that a buy-sell agreement can protect your business from specific situations, such as when the business is sold or your spouse dies. And, it can also protect you when you are facing a divorce. You need to find a chicago divorce lawyer with experience in contract and business law to help you write this type of agreement.
