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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    Live Online with Live Q&A

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Family Law

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Tuesday, December 2, 2025

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.


  • Live Online


    On Demand

Early Bird Pricing!
MSRP
$297.00
$252.45
Save $44.55

Discount expires 10/14/25

This course is $0 with these passes:

CLE
ALL

This CLE course will explore practical solutions to the complex legal issues that arise when divorcing spouses are also co-owners of a private business. The panel will review whether the business constitutes marital property, identify the options available, and offer sophisticated solutions to labyrinthine legal and financial problems that arise at the intersection of divorce and business ownership.

Faculty

Kelly L. Burris
Senior Litigation Partner
Cordell & Cordell

Ms. Burris has settled and litigated complex custody cases and property cases involving multi-million dollar estates. She has also successfully litigated child custody relocation cases.

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Mark S. Gottlieb
Head of Business Valuation, Forensic Accounting & Litigation Support Practice
Mark S. Gottlieb, CPA, PC

Mr. Gottlieb heads MSG’s Business Valuation, Forensic Accounting & Litigation Support Practice based in New York City, focusing on financial matters within litigation. His extensive credentials highlight expertise in shareholder disputes, business dissolutions, economic damage assessments, post-merger conflicts, complex matrimonial cases, and forensic accounting, including fraud examinations. Within financial investigations, Mr. Gottlieb oversees appraisals of closely held businesses, uncovering asset misappropriations, investigating financial misstatements, and analyzing corporate financial records, involving meticulous scrutiny of documents, bank statements, and record reconstruction. His commitment to professional standards involves evaluating financial statements against Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), often in litigations concerning fraud, contractual breaches, and various financial claims.

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Description

Dividing assets in a divorce can be contentious, but when a business is involved, the stakes are often higher, and the process is longer and more complicated. Whether divorcing couples close the business, one buys the other out, or they sell to a third party, counsel will need to address all the complexities of transferring the interest and protecting against future liabilities or surprises and negotiate payment terms, releases, indemnities, and other matters between the spouses and possibly with third parties, such as secured lenders or franchisors. Counsel must also pay attention to make sure that the transfers are not taxable.

When the parties are focused on their divorce, the business could fail due to a lack of attention. Likewise, if the parties attempt to market the business to third parties, finding a mutually satisfactory buyer may take time. If the parties lack the cash to buy out the other, the business relationship may continue for years. During this time, the business must be managed properly and its value preserved. When conflicts between divorcing spouses jeopardize the business, parties may need to seek temporary orders to protect the asset's value.

The business is a separate legal entity with creditors and employees to consider. When one spouse transfers an ownership interest in a private company in the divorce, the transfer of this ownership stake gives the company (and possibly its creditors) a seat at the table in the divorce.

Listen as this authoritative panel explores practical solutions to the complex legal issues that arise when divorcing spouses are also co-owners of a private business.

Outline

I. Introduction

II. The business as marital property

III. Valuing the business

IV. Options 

A. Closing the business

B. One spouse buys out the other 

1. Managing liquidity and cash flow problems

2. Terms of transfer

C. Sale to a third party

D. Co-managing the business after divorce

V. Running the business until the issues are resolved

VI. Practitioner takeaways

Benefits

The panel will review these and other important issues:

  • What are common ways to divide a business in a divorce?
  • Who can make financial decisions for the business after filing?
  • What if the business is a franchise with future options and obligations?