Unfortunately, not all marriages in Pennsylvania work out long term. This can be particular devastating for business owners from a financial standpoint, as they may end up losing large percentages of their business assets due to divorce property division. However, a business owner can take a few steps to keep his or her business protected in the event of divorce.
First, a business owner may want to pay himself or herself a salary that is competitive. Many company owners reinvest all they earn back into their businesses and skip paying themselves competitive salaries. However, this is a major mistake because during the divorce process, their spouses might argue that they never benefited from the businesses. As a result, the spouse of a business owner may end up receiving a bigger percentage of the company owner’s venture.
Another mistake that business owners make when it comes to protecting their business assets is allowing their spouses to work in or help run their companies. If a business owner allows this to happen and then gets divorced in the future, his or her spouse may receive a larger percentage of the company. For this reason, keeping one’s spouse out of one’s business is a smart move.
Sometimes, a business owner simply cannot protect his or her business from a spouse during divorce, meaning that the spouse has the right to receive a percentage of the company. In this situation, the business owner may want to simply pay off his or her spouse by selling the business and then dividing the proceeds. An attorney in Pennsylvania can help business owners navigate the complicated world of property division with the goal of attaining the most personally favorable outcomes possible.