What are the best strategies to protect your professional practice or business during your divorce in Louisville? Will your business interest be a part of the marital property settlement or will it be classified as “separate” property? These are crucial questions for any business or professional practice owner who is considering a divorce.
Generally speaking, if you owned your professional practice or business prior to the marriage (and marital funds were not used to support the business) it will probably be classified as separate property. The increase in value of those holdings during the course of the marriage can still be a volatile issue.
If you started or acquired the company during the course of your marriage, it will in all likelihood be considered a marital asset and you will need to work with our experienced attorneys to protect your position in this asset and preserve operations and future profitability during the course of your divorce.
One issue is the amount you are paying yourself as a salary. It is not unusual to take a lower salary in order to minimize taxes or to leave more capital with which to build your business. However, this may result in a devaluation of your value to the company and a skewed perspective when it comes time to separate your former spouse’s marital interest.
It will be important to obtain a sound valuation for your business. The valuation is the basis for determining the value of your former spouse’s marital interest in the company. Their marital interest is usually offset through other assets during the process of property division.
We work with our clients to negotiate a settlement which uses equity in the family home, savings and investment accounts as well as retirement accounts to offset the marital interest in the business. It is often possible to negotiation payments over time to compensate your former spouse for their interest in the business.
The attorneys at Dodd & Dodd have decades of experience in Louisville divorces with business interests. We work to protect your professional practice or business during your divorce while achieving other goals and objectives which are important to you. Contact us or call 502-584-1108 to schedule an appointment with one of our experienced attorneys.
