As someone who owns and operates a small business in Georgia, you are responsible for your own income and success. You may have been able to provide your family with a good standard of living in recent years thanks to your own hard work and investment in the business you started.
If you find yourself considering divorce or believe that your spouse may be doing so, it’s completely normal to worry about how a divorce could impact your business and your personal financial stability. Carefully reviewing your circumstances and learning a bit about Georgia’s property division laws can help you strategize better with your attorney to protect your business in a divorce.
Your business could be marital property
Whether or not the courts will divide your business in a divorce depends on a number of factors. Among the most significant are when you started the business and what assets you used to do so. If you owned the business prior to your marriage, at least some of your investment in the company will likely remain your separate and protected property.
However, if you started the business during your marriage or if you made substantial contributions to the business’s finances during the marriage, part or all of your ownership interest in the business could be marital property and therefore subject to division under Georgia’s equitable distribution laws.
Executing a prenuptial agreement to protect your business before the marriage or a postnuptial agreement during the marriage could help you protect the business. Provided that neither of you has filed for divorce yet, a postnuptial agreement could be a way for the two of you to deal with the matter reasonably and calmly.
