For the last five years, you and your spouse have worked hard to build your own business from the ground up. It was tentative for the first year or so, but now it is very successful. You don’t want to lose what you’ve worked so hard for or your source of income.
However, both of those things feel a bit threatened because your spouse has asked for a divorce. As your personal relationship ends, what happens to that business?
The most common way that people address this is by allowing one person to exit while the other person buys them out and keeps running the business. If you and your spouse both own half of the company, you can just buy their 50% from them — note that you may need a business loan to do so — and the full ownership transfers to you.
Of course, you also have the option of selling to a third party and splitting the money. This tactic may work well in the short-term, but you do lose the company and your consistent income. You’ll have to decide if it’s right for you based on the payout you would receive.
Perhaps least common, though technically possible, is a situation where you and your spouse keep working together, even after divorce. Technically, that divorce does not have to impact your business relationship at all. If you can still cooperate and work together in a professional setting, you’re free to do so.
As you can see, you have a lot to mull over. Make sure you think about exactly what legal steps you’ll need to take.