Business Divorces

Business divorces are entirely unpleasant and expensive. But like “collaborative divorce” where everyone agrees to be civil and not scream too much there is the possibility of resolving a departure or expulsion from a legal entity without too much drama or legal fees. It is possible.

It is this attorney’s substantial experience that a business divorce in most mature businesses where the parties are in a mood for a fight can easily spend hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting in court. They could have gotten the same result earlier in time if the temperature had been dialed down with fewer legal costs.

You have to decide: do you want an interloper to decide who gets what or do you want to negotiate hard and control the result?

For sure, there may be embezzlement or at least diversion of funds or pass thru of questionable expenses. That is for you the client to decide. But once you raise embezzlement there is no going back.

There are two principal options possible: negotiations and immediate litigation if one of the shareholder, partners, or LLC members is damaging the business or freezing out another shareholder, partner or LLC member.

But consider first trying to work the dispute out and cutting the best deal that you can taking into consideration the cost of litigating and the disruption to your life and business operation.

Talk to a lawyer who has knowledge of corporate law, taxes, and commercial contracts first before running off to the courthouse.