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ADVERTORIAL FEATURE
“I own my own business. If we separate what are the implications?” Specialist family solicitor Anne Thistlethwaite considers the effect of Divorce for the owner of a business.
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Blenheims offers the full range of block management services and excels in delivering outstanding service with a personal touch. We work closely with our clients to devise an approach that works for their building and the way in which they would like it to be run. • Professional property management for blocks of flats of all sizes • • Outstanding Accounts support for collecting and managing service charges •
he owner of a small business may be shocked to discover that, if their marriage breaks down the assets of the business can be distributed in the financial settlement, just as the domestic assets are available to be divided. This may be the case even where one spouse has had no involvement in the business at all. In determining how the available assets should be divided between spouses on divorce, judges take into account a wide range of factors. These include the length of the marriage, the needs of each spouse and of their children, and the income and earning capacities of the spouses. All the assets in which either spouses have an interest are taken into consideration by the court, and this includes shares in a company, interests in a partnership and the tools of the trade of a self-employed spouse. Where the value of the business assets cannot be agreed, an expert may be needed to consider the values and to produce a report setting out his findings so that a value can be placed on the business assets. Running a small business is clearly a huge contribution to the marriage, and the spouse’s efforts in doing so are taken into account by the court. However where, for example, the husband has run a successful business and the wife has concentrated on the domestic sphere, perhaps caring for children and the home, the courts have made it clear that contributions to the marriage will be regarded as of equal weight. There should be no discrimination simply because one has acted as the family bread “earner” and the other as the homemaker. The spouse who has run the business cannot therefore expect to achieve a greater share of the assets to reflect this unless there are very exceptional circumstances. The first priority in any event is to meet the basic needs of both spouses. Sometimes in order to achieve a fair settlement between the spouses, it may be necessary for the family business to be sold. This is definitely the exception rather than the rule since the income from the business may be needed more than ever following divorce, if it is to fund the cost of running two households rather than one. But where, for example, the spouses are approaching retirement and the bulk of their assets are tied up in the business, a sale may be the only feasible way for a fair division of the capital to be achieved. For advice on divorce involving a small business and all family law issues contact AMD’s specialist family team by telephone on 0117 9621205 or e-mail family@amdsolicitors.com. © AMD Solicitors
Winner of the local law firm of the year award 2011
• ARMA members • 28 Chandos Road, Redland, BS6 6PF T: 0117 933 9560 E: Bristol@blenheims.co.uk W: www.blenheims.co.uk
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Telephone us on (0117) 9621205 or visit our website www.amdsolicitors.com February 2012
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