Minnesota women who own businesses have a lot to lose when it comes to ending a marriage. While there is a lot of divorce advice out there, not much of it is tailored toward female entrepreneurs. Fortunately, below are some helpful steps that can assist you in making the divorce process much smoother.
Start with a plan
The first step you should take in the divorce process is to formulate a plan with the help of an attorney. Family law can be a complex process, so having experienced legal assistance may better allow you to understand the ramifications of a split on your business. Your plan should include both your personal interests and your business interests.
Assess your company ownership
While it may seem straightforward to determine who owns the company, it’s best to go back to the basics. Take a look at when you started the business and whether your spouse has a stake in it. When looking at the ownership of your business, you’ll also need to take into account any marital funds or assets that you used to support the business. If you used your income from the business to reinvest back into the company, that could be considered marital income, which means that you invested marital funds into your business.
Get your business valued
To ensure that everyone is working on fair numbers, it’s highly advisable to get your business valued. This will give you and your spouse a number that you can use to divide up your stakes in the business, assuming that your business is deemed marital property. This number can assist you in tasks like knowing how much it costs to buy out your spouse from their stake in the business.
It’s best to sit down and formulate a plan for how to keep your business successful despite going through divorce. As always, you should be seeking legal help so that you can better understand the laws and prepare for the legal proceedings.