Protecting Self-Employed Business Owners in Washington
If you are going through a divorce as a self-employed business owner, then the top priority in your divorce is probably the health and condition of your business. After all, your business is something you built with your own hands and it is the lifeblood of your finances. You cannot risk losing it to your ex-spouse because you mishandled your divorce.
Pacific Cascade Legal is here to make certain you get the professional guidance and moral support you need to make it through your divorce without jeopardizing your business. For years, we have been building our reputation as the trusted team of family lawyers who know how to handle the most complex of cases. We would love to get the opportunity to prove our legal talents to you.
We can assist you to get through your divorce if you are a:
- Self-employed business owner
- Spouse of a self-employed individual
- Co-owner of a business with your spouse
Want a free initial consultation about your self-employed business owner divorce? Call 360-506-6332 to speak with our Vancouver, WA business divorce lawyer.
Using Business Valuation to Prepare for Property Division
The key part of a divorce as a self-employed business owner in Vancouver, WA is determining the value of your business. Washington is an equitable distribution state, which means your marital property will be distributed between yourself and your spouse fairly, not equally. You need to worry about whether or not it would be “fair” to divide your business in your divorce.
With a business valuation conducted by a third-party appraiser, you can get a clear value of your business and use that as a starting point for property division. If you and your spouse both contributed significantly to your business’s operations and costs, then it would likely be subject to some sort of division. You could argue to keep total control of your business in exchange for not getting control of other marital property, though. For example, if your business is evaluated similarly to the market value of your family home, then you could make that “trade.”
Fighting for Total Ownership of Your Business
Of course, there is the real chance that you alone have kept your business afloat throughout your marriage. In such a circumstance, you should not have to worry about losing something you value so much, something that might feel like a part of your personal identity. Using a variety of paperwork and information that may already be accessible due to your business valuation, our Vancouver, WA business divorce attorneys can start to form the argument that it would not be equitable to divide ownership of your business at all. Or, to at least minimize how much of its value should be divided.
Are you a self-employed business owner facing divorce? Let us fight for you and your business. 360-506-6332 to make an appointment with our team today.