You have been operating your business for many years and you have been having marriage problems for years. One day your spouse wants finality to the relationship and wants a divorce. How do you cope? Do you have lines of credit that still can be drawn? Is the spouse working for you. I spoke to a person the other day and they split up 4 years ago, live in the same house on two floors and still worked in the business.
No arrangement was made for closure because neither wanted to pay for a lawyer. It is difficult for a married couple to split up however there are two ways to do it, the friendly way or the non friendly way.
When you are using divorce lawyers and are fighting, the only person who wins are the lawyers. The two spouses and their family loses. I saw one spouse who was very vindictive cause the husband to lose 50% of his net worth due to fighting. The kids see the fighting and no one wins.
If the two of you can come up with an arrangement, then have the lawyer document what you agree to, then you can save lots of money and ensure that your life can continue quickly rather than fighting and dragging this on for years.
In the end, the spouses are still losers however they have minimized their losses to lawyers, sped up the time to settle the estate. To me, that is worth a lot. But you have to remember in these situations, the rules for one applies to the other, you can’t say one company is worthless without supporting it. If you want to do your own valuation, then you need to research it, have support for your numbers and see if the spouse agrees. If it is reasonable, this is far faster process and cheaper. If the spouse does not agree, then you are going to court. If you are close then one of you have to give but the two spouses must use logic and proof to support their valuation and not put on a number because that is all that they want to show. You can also place a listing on www.thebusinessplace.com and see what people are willing to offer you for your business.
This is another way to determine the value of your business cheaply.