Being a small business owner may often put you in a position where you are exhilarated and terrified all in the same day. While I have never owned a small business myself, I can tell you from having worked with small business owners before that the prospect of making a living for yourself by selling a product or selling yourself as a service can be both exciting and intimidating. You are used to putting yourself out there and making yourself vulnerable to the impressions of the marketplace. Every day is a learning opportunity, or you can test what you know and test what you think you do against the people’s desires in your community.
Whether you are successful in business depends on many factors beyond the service or good that you provide. For example, we all know that you may be the best chef in the world and have some business sense to back it up. Still, if you decided to open up your restaurant at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, there was no way that you were going to survive the first month of the lockdown due to people not being able or not being willing to eat out. That’s not necessarily a reflection of your business acumen or your cooking skills. It is much more of an examination of circumstances that go beyond your control.
I think it is fair to draw some parallels between these types of circumstances and a divorce. While so much of the information that we share in this blog is geared towards helping you prepare for a divorce, the fact is that there is only so much preparation you can do in the face of external circumstances that you have no control over. An old saying in business goes something like: business is accessible- until people get involved. The same can be said for divorce. If all that mattered in a divorce was your ability to file some paperwork, wait for the deadline to pass, and then sand some more paperwork, then getting a divorce will be pretty straightforward. That, however, is not how divorce works.
In the context of a divorce, one advantage that I think business owners have over nonbusiness owners is that you are already used to viewing circumstances based on their component pieces and then making objective decisions about them. My general clue is that divorce can be an overly emotional process for some people. Those folks will have trouble identifying the best decision to make at a particular time because their emotions get in the way of their decision-making abilities. If you have problems with your emotions and regulating them, you may have trouble in a divorce.
Small business owners also have an advantage because they are used to dealing with successes and failures. Some ideas that you have in business will work well, and others won’t. That doesn’t mean that you will stop coming up with ideas or stop trying to implement them in the daily life of your business. Your business thrives or fails based on many different circumstances, hopefully mostly having to do with cases related to you. If you own a small business, I think you are in an exciting position If you are considering a divorce from your spouse.
As a small business owner, keep in mind that your hard work and effort in building up your business will be at stake in this divorce. Texas is a community property state. This means that property, assets, and even your small business may be divided in one way or another in your divorce. It does not matter if your spouse never set foot in your business, even for one day during your marriage. It does not matter if your spouse has no business knowledge nor any desire to do anything but spend the money you make from your business. All that matters is that your company was started during your marriage. If that is the case, then there is an argument to be made that the assets of your business, the earnings of your business, and the value of your business in a sale situation or all at stake in the divorce.
With that said, it is of the utmost importance that you plan how to prepare for your divorce as a small business owner. You may have well-meaning friends and family members who are giving you advice on how to get ready for divorce. The difference between a typical divorce in a business owner’s divorce can be pretty significant. As a result, you should pay close attention to any specific advice you can receive regarding the elements of a business owner’s divorce and then plan how to prepare for them, given your circumstances.
Figure out how to value your small business
As I mentioned a moment ago, divorce tends to bring out emotion in both parties. The feeling in many divorce cases comes from children; in other divorce cases, it comes from the business and the divorce transaction. If you or your spouse begin to feel overly stressed out about your divorce, it can impact the result of your case. Whereas you in your levelheaded state may have made different decisions in the divorce, the stresses of your divorce may lead you to make decisions that are not in your or your business’s best interests.
A significant hurdle that was divorcing spouses needs to get over when it comes to a small business is attaching value to that business. There are numerous different methods for valuing a company, including the assets of the business, the name recognition of the business owner or of the business itself in the community, and a handful of others. I do not mean to get into the specifics of business valuation in this blog post, but we have written on this subject before.
I am trying to impress upon you today that you and your spouse need to agree on a business or person who can value your business correctly and accurately. Please work with your attorney and rely on their experience when naming a person to submit an evaluation for your business. In an ideal world, you and your spouse should agree on the person valuing your business. If you cannot agree, you can compare the two persons you choose and then figure out how to split the difference between their valuation differences. Either way, a professional needs to be involved when valuing your business for the divorce.
Keep the business and lose other property
now is the time that you will come to understand how much you care about your business and how much you want to keep the company and its operations out of the control of your spouse. Protecting your business in the divorce may be your number one goal, especially if you do not have any children. Depending on your circumstances, it may benefit you does make a trade offer within the divorce and in the community property division. For example, suppose your spouse’s share of your small business is valued at $150,000. In that case, you may want to make a trade offer wherein she can keep $150,000 of your share of a community estate in exchange for you keeping 100% control of your small business; obviously, this plan would only work if you have enough community property to spare when assigning property rights after your divorce. Otherwise, you may be interested in taking out a loan or structuring some other finance-type deal where your spouse can receive an equal amount of value to her portion of the small business. It is worth considering all of your options in the direction you are most comfortable with.
Another way to look at all of this is that once a value to your business is agreed to, you can pay them cash to keep control of your business. As I mentioned a moment ago, however, you need to have the money on hand to be able to make this plan a reality. If you do not have the cash on hand, you may consider taking out a loan or finding an investor who could front the money for your spouse. Neither of these options may work for you if you are averse to taking out debt.
If you are a person who is not in a position to take out a loan to buy out your spouse’s share of the small business, then I have an idea that may be of interest to you. It is a little more complicated, but what you could do is create an agreement with your spouse where she would receive a certain percentage of your business’s profits over an extended period that would cover the valuation of the company. This way, you would not have to take out a loan, and your spouse would be able to recoup the value of the business over time. If your spouse is willing to enter into this kind of agreement with you, it could save you a lot of hassle and a lot of debt in the long run.
Put yourself in a position where you can argue that the business is not a part of the community estate
this is probably going to be the most complex piece of advice I provide to put into action. Most of the time, the money you use to build a small business comes from your income from another job. This income is almost certainly community income and therefore part of your community estate. It would follow that the small business created with that income would then be part of the community estate. Keep in mind that all this is going on while you are married. On the surface, it would seem that your spouse has all of her bases covered to argue that the small business and its value are community property.
However, if you can plan, you may build your small business up out of assets and income that are not part of the community estate. To do this, you would need to have enough money from your separate property to build the business without dipping into the funds from your community estate. Once you use money from your joint bank accounts or family bank accounts to build the business, you weaken the argument that a large portion of the small business belongs separately to you. Keeping track of the money used to finance your business Is a wise step to take. You may have everything lined up to prove your business is separately owned, but if you do not have the paper trail to back up your positions, then you may have a hard time in court making your case. Emails, bank account transfer forms, loan agreements, and letters from financial institutions are all the kind of paper that I am talking about that may prove invaluable to you if you find yourself arguing in court that your small business is at least partially your separate property.
Questions about managing your divorce as a small business owner? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan
If you have any questions about the material presented in today’s blog post, please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our licensed family law attorneys offer free of charge consultations six days a week in person, over the phone, and via video. We hope that you have gained a great deal of knowledge from today’s blog post and look forward to the opportunity of meeting with you and your family to discuss whatever family law matters are relevant in your lives.
Bryan Fagan, a native of Atascocita, Texas, is a dedicated family law attorney inspired by John Grisham’s “The Pelican Brief.” He is the first lawyer in his family, which includes two adopted brothers. Bryan’s commitment to family is personal and professional; he cared for his grandmother with Alzheimer’s while completing his degree and attended the South Texas College of Law at night.
Married with three children, Bryan’s personal experiences enrich his understanding of family dynamics, which is central to his legal practice. He specializes in family law, offering innovative and efficient legal services. A certified member of the College of the State Bar of Texas, Bryan is part of an elite group of legal professionals committed to ongoing education and high-level expertise.
His legal practice covers divorce, custody disputes, property disputes, adoption, paternity, and mediation. Bryan is also experienced in drafting marital property agreements. He leads a team dedicated to complex family law cases and protecting families from false CPS allegations.
Based in Houston, Bryan is active in the Houston Family Law Sector of the Houston Bar Association and various family law groups in Texas. His deep understanding of family values and his professional dedication make him a compassionate advocate for families navigating Texas family law.
