2016: San Diego Divorce, Paternity and Legal Seapration for Business Owners Who Are Self Employed

Whether the business is a sole proprietorship, corporation [Subchapter S or not], limited liability company or limited liability partnership, there are some commonalities in a paternity, divorce or legal separation. An attorney can discuss factors you may not think are important. A lawyer will analyze the case in the same way you analyze your company and business. The issue of the parenting plan, such as custody and visitation, is one which affects both business owners and non business owners alike. For some business owners, the fact that they may be able to set their own schedule and hours may be an advantage for a parenting plan while, for others, it may not. Each case is different however the dispute resolution procedures for custody and visitation is for mediation with Family Court Services. FCS is a County of San Diego department and mediators meet with parents to try and get them to reach an agreement. If no agreement made, as San Diego is a recommending County, then a written recommendation will be prepared and a copy to both parents and to the Judge. Support, whether child or spousal, will also be an issue whether the payor and/or payee are self employed or not. Also, division of assets and debts will be an issue and this does not matter whether one of the spouses is self employer or not. The Law Office of Roy M. Doppelt has represented business owners and spouses of business owners in San Diego Superior Court in the Family Law Division. Doing this yourself has many disadvantages and the staff and attorneys at the law office can help you save time so you can continue to run your business.

When there is self employment, valuation of the business can be a significant issue. In some cases, the spouses can agree on the value of the business. For some business’, if there are no employees and the only one working in the business is one spouse, then the business may not have any significant value since only the efforts of the business owning spouse contributes to the income. On the other hand, if the business has multiple employees and/or locations, there may be a very significant value placed on the business. Another issue is whether the community interest in the business is a full 50% or less than this. In some cases, one spouse owned the business prior to marriage. In these cases, two formulas are most often used for the community property interest for valuation purposes in division: Peirera & Van Camp. Many times, an expert who is a forensic CPA must given an opinion not only on value but on which formula to be used. This can be extraordinarily complex in many cases. Of course, spouse who runs the business and who will keep the business would like to have the value as low as possible for the buy out and the spouse who is being bought out would like to have the value as high as possible. Payments and security for future payments can also be a very contentious issue. Additionally, income for family law court is different than income for tax filing purposes. For example, certain deductions may be entirely permissible on a tax return but may be included as income in family law court which are called “add-backs”. Add backs can take the form of additional income which can be used for support calculations. The Law Office of Doppelt and Forney, APLC can assist with analysis of income for support and help provide experts as needed.

The Law Office of Doppelt and Forney, APLC can represent business owners in Family Law Court in San Diego. The attorneys has experience in family law cases and can discuss legal strategies and make sure to properly analyze your case. They offer a free 30 minute virtual consultation which is completely confidential whether you hire or not. This way, you can discuss your case and your goals in private.