QUESTION
I live in NYS. It appears that I will be filing for divorce soon. My husband is making threats regarding a business I own but he runs. what can I do?
Asked on Nov 07th, 2012 on Divorce - New York
More details to this question:
We have been married for 9 years. the business was incorporated in New York State 3 years ago. I am 100 percent shareholder. I quit my job to help establish the company and worked there with my husband until 6 months ago. he has threatened that if I file for divorce he will clean out our business and take off with all of the capital equipment and leave me with nothing but the debt. it is not a business I can run without him. I want the business out of my name right away even before I file for divorce. I do not care about equitable distribution of any assets I just want to be done with it. he is unscrupulous and vindictive and I just want to minimize the possible damage against me. is it advisable for me to get out of the business now or should I let it be settled in family court? he has made this same threat 4x in the last 6 months so it was not just a heat of the moment type statement.
1 ANSWER
First, the obvious: threats are both easy to make and foolish.
Under the facts you describe the business and its assets are marital property. The appropriate way to handle this is to file for divorce quickly so that anything he does to damage the business is charged against his side in the equitable distribution.
You should retain a local divorce lawyer and get to work - filing, by the way, is in Supreme, not Family Court.
Answered on Nov 08th, 2012 at 9:45 AM