My wife and I are separating , we have 3 young children together . She is a physiotherapist and is more than capable of earning a good salary but refuses to work more than 1 day per week .
I have been running a limited company for over 10 years the av profit is about £40k a year and I take a £50k dividend. I don’t want to be unfair to my ex wife but she is coming for half the company and it’s terrifying me , there is some cash reserve in the business account but we have debt ( some business loans / bounce back Covid loans )
I’m genuinely worried about the gas and electric bills in winter ( we are in a big industrial unit ) and will be relying on the reserves of cash . I equally don’t want to give her a 50% sharehold going forwards either . My lawyer advised me that I could give her the house to offset but then I will hand absolutely no equity / cash to get another house and I also need somewhere decent for the 3 kids that I’m hoping to agree on 50/50 .
Friends have suggested paying off the loans and putting family as directors / shareholders and paying them a dividend to reduce the profit etc but I don’t know if that looks dodgy ?!
I don’t want to be unfair to my wife as she also needs somewhere to live etc but I also have to think that I do too .
had anyone been in this situation or got any advice ?
Thanks
hi,
I have no direct experience of this, but would suggest to follow advice from your lawyer and mention any concerns you have or what options are available. hopefully you can reach a reasonable settlement and can move on in life.