What are the best strategies to protect business interests in a Louisville divorce? Divorces involving substantial assets, such as a business or professional practice, are much more complex legally and financially. Each Louisville divorce involving substantial assets is usually going to require attention to several steps involving characterization, valuation, and ultimately marital property divisions in order to complete the divorce. It will take time to work through each step of the process and complete your divorce. Our professional clients and business owners often ask our divorce and family law attorneys what steps to take in order to prtect their interests in a business or professional practice prior to, during, and after their divorce.
One of the most effective options for any Kentucky business owner or licensed professional is to consider a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement. While a prenuptial agreement can protect your assets in the future, the majority of business owners and professionals do not enter into a prenuptial agreement before the date of the marriage. Therefore, if one is already married, the choice would be to develop a postnuptial agreement. The Court will closely scrutinize these agreements, so your attorneys need to craft an enforceable agreement to protect business interests in a Louisville divorce.
An effective postnuptial agreement can be structured in a fair and beneficial manner for each party approaching an anticipated divorce. A postnuptial contract can establish what happens to valuable assets in the event of a divorce or the death of one of the parties. Each party should work to protect their own unique priorities, and consider their financial needs during and after the divorce process. It is always a best practice to keep marital funds completely separate from business accounts. The commingling of business funds with marital funds (and vice versa) can change the characterization of those funds as well as the business or professional practice as a marital asset. This will also make it a lot more challenging and expensive for a business owner or professional who wants to keep ownership of the interest after the divorce is completed.
Unfortunately, many business owners and professionals think the best way to protect business interests in a Louisville divorce is to attempt to influence the company’s success, the income it generates, or the amount of salary or income they pay themselves before and during the divorce. It is important to know that any such strategy can be viewed by the Court as an attempt to falsely lower the value of the professional practice or business, resulting in harsh financial sanctions, and or the loss of the business asset altogether.
The proven, experienced, divorce and family law attorneys at Dodd & Dodd have represented numerous business owners and professionals (even other attorneys) in Louisville divorces. We work with clients that own a business or professional practice to develop and take action on the types of strategies that will actually protect their business interests while achieving their goals and objectives for the divorce.
We invite you to review the strong recommendations of our former clients and contact us or call 502-584-1108 to schedule an appointment with one of our experienced divorce and family law attorneys.
