I have a couple in mediation now who are in a family business. Not only is the Husband the Chief Operating Officer but the Wife and her sisters are shareholders.
Typically, when one of the assets in a divorce is a business, each party retains his/her own business evaluator. The fee for this is somewhere in the $5000-...$10,000 range per person. The parties are then armed with what their expert believes to be a fair value and the choices are for one person to buy the other out of the business, to sell it or to shut it down. Often, the business is the largest asset and a buy out is just not possible. Additionally, as is the case with my current couple, there are siblings involved making the buy-out even more difficult.Selling a profitable long standing business is generally not a great option either and shutting it down is tragic. When divorcing parties can collaborate or mediate however, the options expand. My couple has decided that since the business is the sole source of income, Husband will continue to run the business and a shareholder's agreement will be crafted to insure that wife and her siblings continue to receive revenue from the business.
