When you co-own a business with your spouse, divorce becomes quite a bit trickier to execute. One of the fears of divorcing couples with a shared business to run is that their companies will take a hit from the divorce and not be sustainable.
That’s why at least some divorcing couples decide to tough it out and remain in business together as partners. Perhaps surprisingly, some manage to make it work.
How do they pull it off? It’s not always easy. One prerequisite is that the business is thriving and not merely limping along until its eventual demise. The continued success of your business becomes the powerful motivation both former spouses need to make them go the extra mile to work out their business difficulties for the common good.
Keeping the business not just afloat but profitable after divorce requires diplomacy as well as business acumen. Two entrepreneurs who failed to make it as a married couple may still have what it takes to see their business thrive. But they must also trust that their partners have the best interests of the shared venture in mind when making decisions that affect the future of the company.
They both also have to be committed to working out their differences civilly. If either partner is likely to sacrifice the business to cause harm to their former spouse, this is not going to be a workable solution.
Some divorces are just too painful for the partners to continue to work together. Instances of infidelity can be difficult to overcome even when both partners are determined to salvage the business. Rather than submit themselves to the ongoing pain and heartbreak that comes from daily encounters with their exes, these spouses may find it best to sell their interest in the company and make a clean and final break.
Do you want to salvage your business relationship in the divorce? Your Atlanta family law attorney can recommend some strategies that may make that possible.
