You and your spouse want to get a divorce. Your marriage just isn’t working. It’s causing some conflict, and you both agree you’d be happier if you separated.
Your biggest question, though, is what this will mean for the future of your career. You and your spouse are also joint business owners. Can you keep working together at the company even after you end your marriage, or are you going to have to sell your business during the division of marital assets?
Selling is just one option
You can sell the business, and some couples do. After all, if you make money in that sale, you can then split it up, making property division simple.
But there are other options. First of all, you could continue working together. It may be wise to make a partnership agreement. Your relationship is still going to change. But if the two of you are on good terms, you can still be co-owners of the same business, even if you’re divorced. This also makes property division simple because you don’t have to worry about how to divide the company at all.
If neither of these options is viable, but you still want to keep running the business, you may also be able to buy out your partner’s share. For instance, perhaps the two of you have been saving jointly for retirement. Your ex may be willing to take those retirement savings in exchange for their ownership percentage of the company.
Navigating a divorce
The exact options that you choose will depend on the specifics of your situation, but you can see that it is important to know about all of the legal options you have when navigating the divorce process.