Practice Area · Owners & Founders
Divorce for business owners.
The company is usually the largest asset in the case, the income that funds everything, and someone's life's work — all three at once. The case has to resolve without breaking the thing everyone is fighting over.
The Three-Hat Problem
One company, three roles in the case.
In a business owner's divorce, the company appears three times: as an asset to be valued and divided, as the income stream that drives support, and as the owner's livelihood going forward. Most disputes come from treating those three roles as if they were independent. They aren't.
The sophisticated version of this problem: the appraiser's number for the company's value and the court's number for the owner's income are built from the same cash flows. Count retained earnings toward value and again toward income, and the owner pays twice for the same dollars — the double-dip. Normalizing owner compensation, perks, and K-1 income so the two numbers reconcile instead of stacking is where these cases are actually won.
Protecting the Company During the Case
The business can't stop for the divorce.
Temporary orders set the trajectory of the whole case — who controls accounts, how distributions flow, what gets disclosed to whom. Handled carelessly, the case itself damages the company: spooked partners, nervous key employees, lenders asking questions. I manage discovery scope, protect competitively sensitive information, and account for buy-sell agreements and operating-agreement transfer restrictions from the start.
Courts usually avoid leaving former spouses as co-owners of an operating business. The realistic outcomes are an offset against other assets or a structured buyout — and the difference between a good structure and a bad one is measured in liquidity, taxes, and years of payments.
Why Owners Hire Me
I've sat in your chair.
I've founded, built, and sold companies, and I've owned commercial and residential real estate through entities. When we discuss your cash flow, your working capital, or why your balance sheet doesn't look like your lifestyle, you won't be translating for your lawyer. With a Georgetown Tax LL.M. and thirty-plus years of trial work alongside forensic accountants and valuation experts, I read your financials the way you do — as an operator — and then present them the way a court needs to hear them.
Common Questions
What owners ask before they hire anyone.
Does my spouse get half of my company?
Almost never in kind. The marital portion of the company's value gets divided — typically through an offset against other assets or a buyout over time. The fight is about the number and the structure, not about adding your ex to the cap table.
Will my partners or employees get pulled into this?
Company records will be discoverable, and that's manageable. I work to keep discovery proportionate, protect sensitive competitive information, and keep the dispute between the spouses — not inside your boardroom.
I started the company before we married. Is it safe?
The pre-marital value may remain your separate property if it can be proven and traced, but the appreciation during the marriage is generally marital — and you carry the burden of proving the starting value. That's an evidence problem, and it's solvable, especially if we start early.
The rest of this chapter.
Closely held businesses, professional practices, executive and equity compensation, trusts, real estate, and the tracing that decides what is marital and what is not.
- Business Valuationthe number that decides the case→
- High-Asset Divorcecomplex estates, disclosure, and the five-year rule→
- Business Owner Divorcekeeping the company you builtYou are here
- Complex Financial Divorcevalue, characterize, tax-effect — then divide→
- Property Divisionequitable, not automatic 50/50→
- Separate Propertya records-management discipline→
- Spousal Maintenancethe formula, published with a worked example→
- Executive Compensationproperty or income — the line worth arguing→
- Stock Options & RSUstax character changes real value→
- Trust Intereststhe instrument, not the balance, decides→
- Real Estatevalue, equity, and after-tax proceeds differ→
- Retirement AssetsQDROs, and three different currencies→
- Professional Practicesgoodwill, licensure, and buyouts→
- Tax Strategythe settlement that matters is the after-tax one→
- Hidden Assets & Forensic Discoverythe disclosure duty, and the five-year hammer→
- Cryptocurrency & Digital Assetsfindable, valuable, divisible→
- Married to the Business Ownerleveling the information field→
- Income Determinationwhat “income” means when you own the company→
Engagement
Your company survived everything else. It should survive this too.
A consultation is a scheduled working session — in person in Greenwood Village or by video — in which we go through your situation and I tell you what I would do. It is a paid meeting, not a free call and not a sales pitch; my assistant quotes the consultation fee when you schedule. There is no chatbot here: the contact form and the phone both reach my office, my assistant reviews every inquiry personally, and the meeting goes on my calendar. Please hold the confidential details until we have run a conflicts check.