Simplifying Complicated Divorce

Getting divorced can be difficult regardless of your financial situation. Challenges include disagreements over property division, what to do with the marital residence and child custody disputes, just to name a few. But divorce becomes significantly more complex when the couple has significant personal assets, owns a business or both.

At Del Sole Cavanaugh Stroyd LLC our business law and litigation experience make us uniquely suited to guide clients going through a complex divorce. We can help you through this difficult transition and will work diligently to protect your children, your business and your financial health.

Accounting for Everything and Dividing Fairly

Like most states, Pennsylvania follows principles of equitable distribution in divorce. This means that assets and debts should be divided equitably between both spouses — though not necessarily equally. All assets and debts need to be discovered, categorized and counted, which can be more difficult in a high-asset divorce. Some examples include:

Multiple properties
Recreational vehicles other than cars
Investments
Retirement accounts and savings
Shared debts
Stocks and bonds
A closely held business owned by one or both spouses

Our attorneys begin with a thorough accounting of assets and debts with an eye toward complete accuracy and transparency. We aim to prevent your spouse from hiding assets or from you giving the appearance of hiding assets.

We then work with you to propose an arrangement to divide property that prioritizes the assets you value most.

What happens to the Business?

If you and your spouse co-own and co-manage a business, your divorce presents obvious challenges to the future of your company and your working relationship. But even in cases where one spouse alone owns a business, the other often has a financial stake in it. Dividing those particular assets can be complicated.

Depending on your situation and your goals, we can help you pursue numerous options, including:

Selling or dissolving the business and splitting the assets
Arranging to have one spouse buy out the other spouse’s stake
One spouse keeping the business in exchange for other marital assets equal to the other spouse’s stake.
Restructuring the business to allow both spouses to keep running it under a much more formal business relationship (a rare outcome, but possible in some cases)

Whatever you decide, you need to understand all your options and the potential consequences of each. As business lawyers, we have the experience and knowledge to provide highly relevant, targeted advice and guidance.