The divorce process is complicated enough as is, but the matter can be even more challenging to navigate when a family business is involved. If you don’t know what you’re doing, then you could wind up seeing business assets going to your spouse, or your business may need to dissolve to settle property division issues. You don’t want those outcomes to unnecessarily fall on you and disrupt your future. But what can you do to protect your interests?
One option is to consider pursuing divorce mediation. Here, a neutral third-party will help you and your spouse navigate the divorce legal issues confronting you in an attempt to find mutually acceptable resolution. But you can’t walk into the process without a plan. Otherwise, your spouse could take advantage of you and your business, leaving you with a poor financial outlook.
What mediation strategies can you use to deal with your family business?
If you want to secure a fair and favorable outcome in your divorce mediation, then you have to have an effective legal strategy in hand. Here are some that might help you secure the outcome that you want:
- Find and utilize objective evaluators: If your business is going to be deemed marital property and thus subjected to the property division process, then you need to know what it’s worth. You can’t just estimate here. You need an expert who can come in to analyze your equipment, income and market potential to give you as objective of a business valuation as possible. Hopefully you and your spouse can agree on an expert so that you don’t have to fight over the validity of multiple analyses.
- Aim for business continuity: Just because your business falls into the marital property category and is subject to property division doesn’t mean you have to give it up. In fact, there may be a way to develop a buyout or restructure the business to ensure that you continue to own it or maintain operational control to better ensure that business success continues. Just be sure to make profit division clear in any agreements that you enter into so that you understand what you and your spouse are entitled to moving forward.
- Consider sale to a third-party: It can be hard to let go of a business that you spent significant time and effort building, but doing so could be your best option depending on the circumstances at hand. By selling to a third-party, you might generate the funds needed to start a new venture that’s clear from your spouse’s influence. You’ll just need to keep in mind that any profits realized from the sale may need to be divided with your spouse and you’ll of course want to secure a fair purchase price.
You can get creative during your divorce mediation. What’s key is that you understand what you want out of the process and your future. Only then will you be able to work with your attorney to develop a sound legal strategy that effectively advances your interests.
Take control of your divorce mediation
There are multiple ways to approach a divorce mediation. If you want to protect your interests and your future as fully as possible, then you have to know how to navigate the process with confidence and competence. Fortunately, this isn’t something that you have to do on your own. By working with your divorce attorney, you can educate yourself as to your options so that you make the fully informed decisions that are right for you.
