On behalf of Cooper & Tanis, P.C. posted in high asset divorce on Thursday, October 29, 2015.

Assets a person owned before a marriage typically aren’t considered joint property and subject to division in a subsequent divorce, but a spouse might be entitled to a portion of assets like a business if it was developed after a marriage. Dividing property is often difficult for those in Colorado and other states, but there is some information that entrepreneurs might find useful when getting married or going through a divorce.

Colorado follows equitable distribution laws, which means marital property will be divided in a divorce in a manner that the court deems to be fair. This might not be an equal split and would vary based on the situation. If a partner contributed to a business that the other party owned, he or she may be entitled to a portion of the business. However, a judge would likely assign a value that a spouse is entitled to instead of actually taking anything out of the business.

A spouse is likely to get some value for business contributions if the other partner owns a business outright and the spouse is involved in the business. If a spouse is employed at the other partner’s business when divorcing, both parties would need to talk about what will happen as terminating a spouse due to a divorce could lead to other legal problems in the future.

To avoid the court process and come up with a division of marital property that both parties agree on, other forms of dissolving a marriage like negotiation or mediation may be useful. A family law attorney can often assist a divorcing spouse in determining which method would be best to pursue.