Many people in the Fort Myers area either own or co-own a prosperous business. Often, a person’s interest in a privately held business ranks among their most valuable property.
South Florida residents may also have some emotional attachment to their business interests, especially if the business is owned among family members or close friends.
Finally, a business may also be a person’s main source of income. Without the business, the person will effectively be without a means of earning a living.
Those who own all or part of a business will likely have a lot of issues carefully to consider when going through a divorce. They will need to understand their legal options and alternatives.
Businessowners can protect themselves by asking the right questions
Even so, here are some questions that are useful to think about:
- Is the business owner required to divide the business in the first place? Usually, the answer will be “yes”, but in some situations, a spouse will not be able to touch the owner’s interest. In other cases, the owner may only have to divide part of their business interest.
- What is the current value of the business? This is often both a difficult financial question and complicated legal question. Answering it may require the help of an expert.
- Are their business reasons to keep the details of the divorce private? Particularly in the case of a professional practice or other situations where businesses rely on personal reputations, there may be reasons to try an alternative to litigation in court.
- Practically, how will a business owner divide the business? It is rare when spouses can continue to work in a business together after they divorce. The person keeping the business will have to negotiate how they will pay off the other spouse’s share. The business owner will need to think about this especially carefully since what they decide to do can have many downstream consequences.
- How will the divorce affect the businessowner’s income?
Ultimately, though, each divorce involving a business is going to be a different since so much depends on the circumstances.
