|
|
|
Tycoon's
Divorce Battle A Warning To Business Owners, Says Mace & Jones |
|
A leading
law firm is warning business owners in the food, drink and
hospitality trade to be alert to the implications of marital
breakdown as yet another high profile settlement battle highlights
the damage divorce can wreak on businesses.
Mace &
Jones, an official adviser to small business lobby group the Forum of
Private Business (FPB), said the divorce case of insurance multi
millionaire John Charman will set an important precedent for business
owners. Charman and his wife are thrashing out a settlement deal
contesting his fortune worth an estimated £160m.
Mace &
Jones family law adviser Ros Bever said divorce settlements are
increasingly giving big pay outs to estranged spouses of business
owners, and that it is difficult to prevent all assets including
business assets and trust funds from being taken into account.
"The
blunt truth is that a spouse may have never even set foot in their
partner's business, but if a marriage breaks down they could still
claim against the firm's assets or even force its sale," she
said. "For this reason it really is imperative that business
owners pay close attention to the outcome of recent cases, including
the Charman appeal and ensure they take advice to protect their business."
Ms Bever said
the bad news for business owners is that recent legal cases have
shown that it is increasingly difficult to ring-fence or conceal assets.
"The
divorce courts are a lottery, and when businesses are involved the
stakes are higher and the odds even harder to call,' she said.
"The final settlement depends on a series of factors, including
the length of the marriage, the contribution to the business, the
presence of children, future case law and the whim of a judge.
"However
the starting point is that there must be a fair division of the
assets, including the business, whether your spouse has ever worked
in the business or not. A fair division may mean an equal split of
the assets, but that is not set in stone: it could even mean more
than half. In some cases, there aren't sufficient assets, apart from
the business, to satisfy a spouse's claims and it is in these cases
that the business is particularly vulnerable."
Ms Bever said
businesses should think about the possibility of entering into a
pre-nuptial agreement before marriage, or a post-nuptial settlement
if they are married.
Businesses
wanting to know more about protecting themselves from divorce can
email Ros Bever at ros.bever@maceandjones.co.uk
or visit www.maceandjones.co.uk
Divorce
Factfile
Every year
tens of thousands of married couples split, according to the Office
of National Statistics. There are now more than 5m divorced people in
the UK, the highest number in Europe. Four out of 10 married couples
will eventually part.
250,000
couples get married each year but as people marry later, the average
age for divorce has crept up to 42 years for men and 39 years for
women - with their marriages lasting an average 11 years. Advisory
service Relate says long working hours are a growing source of
marital discord, which is bad news for hard-working entrepreneurs.
Around seven
out of 10 divorces are among first-time couples, but this percentage
is falling as the number of second and third marriages grows. If you
have been previously divorced, it is more likely any future marriage
will fail. Marrying young also makes divorce more likely.
One in six
people now move in with their partner rather than marry. The average
couple cohabits for just over three years, with six out of 10 then
getting married. People who live together are nine times more likely
to break up than married couples.
|
