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Valuing And Dividing Businesses In Divorce

You know that a divorce is in your future, but are you really prepared? The dispensation of properties and child custody arrangements aren’t the only factors that you need to be concerned with during your high-asset split. Your business may also be at risk.

As countless Illinois cases have shown, companies can easily be upended by divorces. If you want your enterprise to stay healthy, it’s incumbent upon you to find an experienced attorney who can help you plan ahead. At Yavitz & Levey, LLC, we’re fully prepared to help both you and your business make it through divorce. We also represent spouses of business owners and executives in the Chicago area.

How Does High-Asset Divorce Affect Companies?

Your personal feelings aside, business interests are assets like any other. When you and your spouse formally call it quits, any corporate holdings that you possess have to be split as well. The particulars of a given division typically reflect the value and nature of the business entity in question.

How Is Business Value Determined?

Business valuations can be fairly complex. In addition to accounting for the value of a company’s tangible assets, such as equipment, real estate and retail stock, high-asset divorce valuations must include intangible assets that are harder to pin down.

Any assets that can’t be tied back to specific origins, like contracts or intellectual properties, are known as goodwill. When goodwill is attached to an individual instead of the business itself, it’s called professional or personal goodwill. Examples of this may include business earnings that are tied to a given individual’s performance or talent. Assets that constitute enterprise goodwill, such as earnings based on a company’s reputation or location, are derived from the business organization itself.

How Can You Protect The Company You’ve Worked To Build?

In Chicago divorces, different forms of income-producing assets and goodwill are subject to unique valuation standards. For instance, the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers notes that personal goodwill generally isn’t considered a dividable marital asset. At the same time, however, business types like apartment buildings may be wholly treated as enterprise goodwill.

The particulars of your situation and business structure will significantly impact how your assets might be divided.

Contact Our Attorneys For The Skilled Assistance You Require

Don’t compromise your company’s future by failing to plan ahead, and don’t attempt to navigate the complexities of high-asset divorce alone. Let Yavitz & Levey, LLP, guide you and advocate for you. Call us at 312-924-4400 or send us an email to arrange a consultation.

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