Business in Divorce

The division of marital assets can be a complicated, even painful process, raising questions of fairness, value, and financial implications for the present and for the future. Yet of all the family’s assets, the one marital possession that typically arouses the most intense feelings of possession and generates the most complex questions is the business holding.

The landscape is expansive, including situations in which:

• One spouse has a capital interest in a business
• One spouse is the sole or majority shareholder in a business
• One spouse is involved in the creation of a business, which may or may not have a future value
• Both spouses have individual businesses or an interest in a business
• Both spouses have a role in the management and operation of one business

Creative problem solving lies at the heart of crafting an agreement that works for both parties and is, in the larger sense, beneficial for the family. It is the mediator’s responsibility to facilitate the couple’s exploration of alternatives. Here the mediator needs to guide the couple in identifying information to be compiled as well as in determining if and when expert input is needed. The present and future impact of different alternatives is viewed from each party’s perspective and from the greater vantage point of the whole family’s welfare.

Where businesses are part of the family’s assets, the Centre for Mediation & Dispute Resolution provides an environment and guidance to tackle what may appear to be insurmountable obstacles and to do so with reason and sensitivity.