Corporations, divorce, and pre-nuptuals...
 

Pretty sure I already know the answer but additional input, even from the peanut gallery, never hurts.

Let's say Joe Blow has a corporation (C-class I believe) for a year or so, meets Jane Swallows, falls in love, gets married, etc. Well Jane is married now so she no longer Swallows. Joe doesn't like that. They decide to get a divorce.

Is Jane entitled to 50% of that corporation? She has absolutely no involvement in the corporation, it was established before she started Swallowing, she knows nothing about the corporation except it's existence. Now I realize this will depend on various State Laws, but in general, what's the consensus?

I think it's pretty safe to say a pre-nuptual should be written up just for clarification anyway. Who writes those? Most lawyers? And how much would something like this potentially cost?

And no, I'm not getting married.

I am so damb good looking :Graucho

I'd definitely do a prenup, even if its just for the shares of my corp. But for the most part, yes, she would have rights to get 50% of the shares. Scary stuff how someone can suddenly get control of your company by saying "I do". With a prenup, at least it becomes "I do with limitations" :)

WG

depends on what state you live in and how liberal they are with the 50/50 deal, even with a prenup there's still a chance of some sort of split depending on the prenup writting and how the marriage ended and how long you were married. ALWAYS get a prenup though:thumbsup

i could be wrong but if you have a corp prior to the marriage then *i think she has no rights to it BUT if you start the corp after you get married then she has rights to 50%

right??

:2 cents:

Oh my. Hmm...

im cool with prenup, actually it has two faces... if you had that pre-nup the other party might think you don't really love her that's why you don't want to share those properties/money with her, while the other one is cool with it since it shows that it is not the money why he/she wants to get married with that person.

you have no idea how easy it is for lawyers to have a prenup thrown out. Be scared, be very scared!

I'm not sure how it works in business, but I know with Real Estate, if you buy a house before you get married, and you pay out of a seperate bank account and yours and her funds never co-mingle, then you have 100% rights to the property.

Rule is : Dont co-mingle funds. (meaning don't pay your mortgage payment from a joint account, and you will continute to have 100% ownership)

It depends on what state you live and how long you were married.

At the disolution of marriage each spouse is entitled to 50% of anything created during marriage, including all debts etc.

Anything formed before that has to be litigated to keep each spouse in the same level of lifestyle based on average monthly expenditures.

If there's kids involved and you live in california you might as well buy yourself a nice shotgun and suck that thing

You can obviously prove that the corporation was yours before the marriage. If you don't put funds considered community property into the corporation than it is still separate when you get divorced. The profits from the corp while you are married are considered community property. If you reinvest those profits into the corp, it's the same thing as putting community property funds into it. It's a sticky situation.

Bottom line.. anything you had before the marriage is considered separate property as long as you don't contribute it to the marriage or use marital funds for it while married.

When in doubt, Prenup!

I just formed a Family Trust through a Trust attorney. She told me that my wife, (whom I married 7 years after starting my company) would be entitled to shares of the corporate stock.

I live in California, and I'm not saying what O.J. did was right, but I understand!

california, hawaii and nevada hva e a situation where lawyers out number cockroaches so as long as he isnt in one of those states you should be ok since the corp was in existence before hand

It depends on the state, the attorneys and the judge.

I've seen prenups fall apart in court and I've seen women left with almost nothing when there was no pre-nup and they were in a 50/50 state.

Each case is going to be different.

Any other input? How much does a pre-nup usually cost?

You gotta be crazy to get married these days if you have lots of money.

I've been there twice and never again . . .

Each state has its own bizarre rules about how assests are calculated in a divorce. Good luck with finding one solid answer.

This will be round 3 for Trump I believe? Hopefully this one is a keeper :)

WG

Consult with a very good lawyer or two on this topic.

However, be prepared if person you want to marry really is hurt and all your plans are busted up when you present the paperwork to them. Some may not care, all depends on how you pitch it.

Trump's a nonstop player. I talked to him at a charity event at Mara Lago and he had his eyes drooling all over my wife and all the other gorgeous women there as well.

:1orglaugh