Divorce when business is a marital asset

[Tobeornotbe84]

Hi,

I am hoping to hear from someone who might have divorced where a business was involved.

My husband and I have been married 4 years & together for nearly 10. I supported him before he set up his business and after and throughout the running of it. Without going into details, he has been horrendous to live with and after having a child his behaviour got even worse.

Our marriage is broken and it’s not getting fixed. He has moved temporarily to live with his parents and I’m in the house with our daughter who is just over a year old now.

We are now looking at financials. He has a business and we have a house cars pensions etc
My husband has offered all the profits in the house 85k plus £1200 payment per month and the bank account will be halved between us.
I would like to hear opinions from people who have been in similar situation. I have been told by solicitors that the offset against the business could be the profits of the house but then I have also been advised that my daughter and I could get shares from the business too.

We are trying to amicably agree, am I being too pushy if I ask for shares in the business too ? My daughter and I would have to sell up and buy another house, it’s a big upheaval and if his business could support it, then of course we would want to stay in the house.

Any advice is appreciated.

Can he not pay the mortgage off the property and transfer it into your sole name? In return for you forgoing an interest in his business

Also he can certainly fiddle his income to the taxman to make sure you don’t get child maintenance in the future

I also would not trust him to continue paying you that £1200 either given what you have said about his character

you're very welcome @Tobeornotbe84 - this is a nightmare not of our own making (either of us!) and finding a way through it, especially in the emotionally-blinded early stages is so hard...

I'm sure your solicitor has told you, as well as you asking for all the paperwork the court will ask for it if it's not provided, so even if your ex is unhelpful with you, there comes a point in the process where he can't avoid declaring his business value/income any longer...and if he starts to mess around then your solicitor will be able to recommend someone to go through their figures in forensic detail.

By the CMS calculation of 12% of salary for one child, your XDH would be earning £10,000 a month gross to give you £1200, so that's where you start from - if the business is doing so well that he's earning that, then there's almost certainly more you could ask for, from his salary but also based on your interest in the business...

I was/am also astounded how these men can just walk away from their DC...and I have seen a side to my STBXH that I would never have thought existed, and that has been hard to cope with.

But having the advice and support of a good solicitor is making all the difference, like I don't have to overthink and agonise over everything because I can "just" trust her to advise me what to do, and then do it; that has freed my head up a lot.

All the best

My Ex was in my business and had 49% shares and a Director. He wanted me to buy him out but we were able to argue successfully that the business had no value without me in it (HR consultancy and I am the HR expert. He just did the invoicing a few hours a month. I had to change lawyers though as my first one just didn't understand limited companies.

I think they type of business is really important. DH and I have a limited company. It doesn't have stock or buildings, just the work contracts we do. So while there is a decent bank balance it would be fairly easy to close the company and restart if we wanted. I would consider how easy it is for him to do the same.

[quote Tobeornotbe84]@SeasonFinale you’re absolutely right. My problem is that I’m trying to be as amicable as possible. When I made the suggestion about me keeping the house and him keeping his business it felt so easy. He said it was very sensible !

I am not a money grabber but do want the best for my child and I. The account we have is about 12k and I also took 3k off a credit card for him to pay off and said I’d continue that which I now regret offering. This was only a verbal discussion may I add.

I have taken some legal advice and have been informed that as an offset from the business I can take all the proceedings from the house.
I do feel maybe I’ve been to reasonable by saying I’d split the bank account and take his credit card !

His business isn’t huge but I know he has doubled it in size since he bought it originally for 160k. And yes I supported him before the business during the set up and all these years he has ran it.
He is an ex boarding school boy and since having our daughter he has gone downhill and just doesn’t want to be around us or make it work …

So, I should ask him for his accounts ( may I add when I mentioned it before he got very angry but luckily he has a step dad who bought the business for him originally who is more level headed and has been involved in all of this ) his stepdad thinks I have been extremely reasonable but … my husband since the divorce plans has started to say business is struggling and that he has sold all of his stock … also mentioned to me how savvy his stepdad is in business.
They don’t want to pay solicitors either and are very money focussed. I’m happy to do this amicably too but it has to be fair and I feel he has to share the details of his business.

He used to stare at his profits when he was at home with me..: all the time. It is just him in the business so it isn’t huge but I know he was saying he could pay himself 4K ish in dividends …
But now he’s telling me he’s given half his salary away (the 1200 a month ) it’s actually less than half and that he will have to look for shared accommodation…

It’s just so tricky: I want to be fair and amicable but equally if he and the business can support me and our child then why should I have to uproot our life and start moving etc[/quote]
It’s not up to him to support you though. You would be expected to work full time too. You need to get full disclosure of the financial state the business is in. It’s no use having half of nothing - if all the equity in the business is tied up in stock etc, it’s not the same as hard cash in the bank. Also, you need to check who actually owns it - does his stepfather own part of it?
There’s no way you can make any financial decision without full disclosure.