When Business Gets Personal

By Freya Robbins, Supreme Court Certified Mediator & Certified Divorce Financial Analyst ®
| 11:45 a.m. March 18, 2021

Sarasota
Neighbors

You spend years of your life building your business, accumulating assets, and perhaps suddenly, find yourself faced with divorce. Now what? Very few anticipate being in this position, but you are certainly not alone if you feeling trepidation at the road ahead.

There are choices as to how you want to process through a dissolution. There is the ugly way and there is the kind and gentler way.

Being kind and gentle does not mean taking it lying down. It means being honest and open in an environment where you get to share thoughts, ideas, brainstorm, and work together with a professional who will help you figure it out. In the end, this reduces:

your stress,
your cash out of pocket
your time away from your business

and ultimately can improve relationships amongst family members.

There is usually not much issue with understanding that in the State of Florida assets acquired during the marriage are considered marital and therefore to be divided equitably. The question becomes: How does one determine the value?

Let’s face it, your business is the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs. If we consider cutting the goose in half, she will not produce the golden eggs anymore. Selling the business and dividing the profit eliminates future revenue streams. There are a lot of options, but few of them are very appealing. I am sure you are aware of this, but your spouse might not have the same perspective. Perspective has a lot to do with conflict resolution.

My job as a mediator is to help you both see what the other person sees so you have a shared point of reference. You may not agree with what they see, or how they see it, but a shared under-standing of perspective gives us a starting point for discussion. We will gather all the information, business and personal financial data and line it up in a way that one can fairly assess what you have and what is a fair way to sort it all out.

It sounds very simple but these situations can be very complex, with many moving parts. The more organized your financial data is the smoother the process will be. If you do not have your books in order it can require some extra clean up before we can clearly see the full picture.

At Zollinger Mediation, we have a team of professionals that we collaborate with for cases that involve businesses. Your situation may be complex but that does not mean it has to be complicated. What complicates a case is when those involved see themselves as adversaries.

Remember, most times, each party just hopes to come out unscathed. I do not meet many couples who truly want to take advantage of the other person. We want to be treated fairly and we agree to treat the other one fairly. Having a trusted guide when going on a trip makes the experience so much more enjoyable.