Divorce when
you built
the whole thing.
"You did not build that company so a judge could divide it.
So we work very hard to make sure none of them ever have to."
Why business divorce
is its own thing.
Divorcing while you own a company in Texas means two problems collide at once: a community estate to divide and an operating business that has to keep running while you do it. The work starts before valuation and before filing. It starts by sorting out what the thing actually is. An operating company, a holding LLC, a partnership, an equity grant on a vesting schedule — each one takes a different playbook.
Most family law firms treat a business like another asset on the schedule. A house, a 401(k), a company. We don’t. A company isn’t a number. It’s a payroll, a roof over fourteen people’s heads, a relationship with a bank, and ten years of your nights.
We will not begin advising you on Texas property law until we understand what you’re protecting.
Valuation:
the four wrong ways
to do it.
Texas is a community property state under Texas Family Code § 3.002, which means most of what was built during the marriage is community property, including the appreciation of a business you started before. The court divides that community estate “in a manner that is just and right” (§ 7.001), and a small valuation error compounds into a six- or seven-figure swing in what your spouse actually walks away with. So the valuation question is enormous.
Four common mistakes we untangle:
- Book value as a stand-in for fair value. Your accountant’s number is for taxes, not divorce.
- Single-multiple comp valuations. “EBITDA × 4” can be off by an order of magnitude.
- Founder discount, ignored. The business may not exist without you. Courts know this. Some opposing counsel will pretend not to.
- Goodwill, conflated. Personal goodwill (yours) is not divisible. Enterprise goodwill is. The line is everything.
What “community
property” actually means
in Texas.
Community property is not a 50/50 split. It is a presumption (Texas Family Code § 3.003) that property acquired during the marriage is jointly owned, and that a court will divide the community estate in a manner that is “just and right” (§ 7.001). That phrase carries most of the weight in Texas family law, and it cuts in your favor more often than people think.
What stays separate (§ 3.001): anything you owned before the marriage, anything inherited, anything gifted to you specifically. What gets complicated: a business that existed before but grew during. The increase in value is community. The base (the equity at the date of marriage) is not. Tracing that line, and overcoming the community-property presumption with clear and convincing evidence, is half of what we do on these cases. Done well, it can shift the dividing line by a million dollars.
Buyout structures
we’ve actually used.
Settlement-first means we get to design the outcome instead of having one designed for us. A few we’ve put together when the company is the asset:
- Note from buyer to seller spouse. Promissory note over 3–7 years, secured. Lets the operator keep operating.
- Asset swap. The home, the retirement account, the lake place — in exchange for the equity. Works when the household has other depth.
- Earn-out tied to revenue. Risk-shared. Useful when the business is real but the cash isn’t yet.
- Sale to a third party with a runway. Rare. Sometimes the right answer.
Honest answers
to fair questions.
"My spouse never worked at the company. Do they still get half?"
Probably not half. But probably something. Texas courts care about the contribution to the household. "I stayed home so you could work eighty hours a week" is a contribution. The size depends on the facts.
"Will my partners be dragged into this?"
Not by us. Part of the work is keeping the operating company out of the courtroom. Discovery can reach business records. We narrow what is reachable to what is necessary.
"What does this cost?"
For most business-divorce matters, $25k–$80k all-in. Larger or contested cases run higher. We give you a real estimate after the first conversation, not after a retainer.
"Should I fire my regular lawyer?"
No — keep them. Your corporate counsel is who we will work with on the operating side. We handle the family law. Two professionals, one client, no overlap.
"Can we keep the business and the marriage separate during this?"
Mostly, yes. We design the case so that day-to-day operations are not disrupted. There are a few moments — discovery, valuation — where it touches the company. We give you weeks of warning, not days.
"What if my spouse and I are co-founders?"
Different page entirely. We will send it to you. Short version: it is harder, but doable, and the answer almost always involves one buying the other out on a structured note.
Schedule the
first conversation.
Forty-five minutes, on the phone or in our offices on Bee Caves. No retainer, no commitment, no salesmanship. We'll tell you what we'd do, what it'd cost, and whether you even need a firm like ours.