Raleigh Lawyer for Complex Cases Involving a Business

Cases involving one or more businesses can include complex issues of valuation of the business and determination of income for support. One of the most intricate matters of property division is the business valuation process for spouses who owns an interest in one or more businesses. It is advisable to work with an experienced, specialized family lawyer and a business valuation professional to assign an appropriate value to the business interests for distribution. Vitale Family Law in Raleigh has focused its practice on family law and handled complex equitable distribution and support matters.

Equitable Division and Business Owners

When spouses divorce in North Carolina, one of the topics of negotiation following separation will be property division to split marital property and assets. However, the process can become complicated when one or both spouses own a business, as businesses that exist on the date of separation are often considered marital property that must be divided equitably.

An experienced lawyer can work with a business valuator to examine the following factors, among others, to determine the fair market value of a spouse’s business for the purposes of distribution:

• type of business;
• stock value and financial condition of the business;
• intangible value or goodwill;
• general economic outlook;
• industry-specific outlook.

A thorough business valuation will help ensure that the spouses’ marital assets are divided in an equitable manner. This will be especially important when it comes to determining alimony and child support, as the business valuation may also include an estimation of income that could differ from what is reported, and could support an argument against double-dipping.

In the case where a spouse owns an interest in a business, both spouses may want to keep the business intact even after divorce. In this scenario, one spouse may buy out the other with cash or an increase in marital assets or spousal support, or the couple may continue to co-own the business together if they can maintain an amicable relationship.