When your spouse tells you that they want to get a divorce, you’re not surprised. But you are concerned because the two of you are business owners. Your spouse tells you that you’re going to have to sell the business so you can split up the money you earn as you divide all of your other marital assets.
But you’re not interested in selling the business. You want to continue on as an owner. You love the company and it’s your source of income. Are there any options to do this?
Keeping the business yourself
One potential option is to keep the company yourself, and you can do this by buying out the share of the business that your spouse owns. Some business owners will take out a loan and use the money from the loan to purchase the other person’s share. This does create new debt for the business, but it means they have 100% control.
Another tactic is to trade marital assets. Say that your business and your family home have a similar value. Your spouse could keep the home, you could keep the business, and neither one has to be sold.
You could keep working together
Another potential option only works if both spouses are able to agree. But it is technically possible for you to continue working as business owners, even though you’ve gotten divorced. This would mean that you don’t have to sell the business or refinance at all. You just need to create a business contract or a partnership agreement so that you can define your new roles and your rights. But the two of you could continue running the business together, if you’d like, after the divorce.
Of course, this would be impossible if your spouse is only interested in selling. But that’s why it’s so important to know about all of the legal options that you have as you work through this process.
