Working as business partners during your marriage seemed like a good idea at first. You already had a relationship and it was easy to sync your schedules if you were both working together.
Unfortunately, it actually caused a lot of strain in your relationship. Now the two of you are going to get divorced. So what happens to the business that you own jointly?
You can keep working together
First and foremost, you can still be joint business owners even after you get a divorce, so you don’t necessarily have to change anything. You just have to determine if the two of you can work together moving forward. This may not be possible if that relationship is causing a lot of conflict, but some couples who are going through an amicable divorce are able to shift into being business partners.
You can take over
Another option is to buy out your spouse’s share during the divorce process. Maybe you want to get business loans or bring on investors. Perhaps you want to give up other marital assets, like a retirement account.
You can sell the company
If nothing else works, you always have the option to sell the business. This just converts your business interest into a financial asset, which you and your spouse can then divide during property division. The downside, of course, is that you lose the business you’ve worked on building and your source of income, but you may get a significant influx of cash right after the divorce.
It’s very important to understand all of your options during property division, and it may help to consider your legal options.
