Divorcing a Business Owner? What You MUST Know Before You Settle
Jul 8, 2026 · 36 min · 13 segments
Send us Fan Mail Divorcing a business owner can be one of the most financially complex parts of any separation. In this episode, Sara Davison…
Jul 8, 2026 · 36 min · 13 segments
Send us Fan Mail Divorcing a business owner can be one of the most financially complex parts of any separation. In this episode, Sara Davison…
Richard BradyGuestSara DavisonHost... to have someone that really gets what you're going through and understands, um, and doesn't sort of use the big words that confuse us and overwhelm us.
[chuckles] Like I, I, I was a business owner joint with my ex-husband but, you know, we had to get a valuation of the business to sort of work out what the settlement was gonna be at the end, and I just remember it being one of the most horrific conflict-inspiring situations because his guy was coming on saying it was worth absolutely nothing and was over, and my guy was coming in, and I thought he was being quite reasonable and sort of saying, "Well, this is where," but probably to the higher end, but not ridiculous as far as I was concerned.
But, you know, the judge sort of comes along and sort of usually rules down the middle in a lot of these cases because he says, "Well, if he's saying that and she's saying that, well, then it must be in the middle." Which actually in high-conflict cases is just not true.
So what, what sort of-- well, first of all, let's look at why do you think there is a need for your services out there for people that might be listening?
Y- yeah, I... well, it's difficult to know what a small company is worth, and I think the vast majority of work is small companies, not private, uh, sorry, public companies.
So, you know, it's the corner shop, it's the hairdressers, it's the engineering firm.
Uh, and because there isn't really an easy way of doing it, then there's an immediate conflict of interest because if it's your business that you don't really want to give a great value to, [chuckles] then there are ways that you could suggest that it's worth less than it probably is.
Uh, and similarly, if you're the person that would like to know what the value is, uh, you know, and, and inflate, I'll say inflate, but get the, the best value possible, um, then, you know, it's important that we get that identified.
So we either work as a single joint expert, so we're the one expert working on behalf of both parties and try to get a very balanced view of that, or we could be a party-appointed expert.
And, and we get more of those, which is where one party has said, "Look, my..." very typically, "It's my husband's business, it's been valued by his accountant at X, but I really think it's worth more than that.
Can you have a look at it a- and help?" So that, that's where we tend to get more of our work, probably 70% of our work is when we're working for one party- To try and establish what the value is, because oftentimes the accountant, uh, takes a very, um, how can I say? Conservative, that's probably the best way.
A conservative view, particularly if they've got a, you know, a long relationship with the business owner.
I think, you know, my, my listeners will know that I have a real problem with the injustices and the conflicts of interest in the system, and sometimes when you are dealing with certain experts, especially around children, but also in these kind of situations, you find that someone may have a bias and, you know, when you get experts who go, "Oh, yeah, they're pro dads," or, "Oh, yeah, they're pro mums," or pro him or pro her, you know.
You kind of get that feedback, just like when you walk into court and they go, "Oh, no, it's Judge so-and-so.
... to have someone that really gets what you're going through and understands, um, and doesn't sort of use the big words that confuse us and overwhelm us.
[chuckles] Like I, I, I was a business owner joint with my ex-husband but, you know, we had to get a valuation of the business to sort of work out what the settlement was gonna be at the end, and I just remember it being one of the most horrific conflict-inspiring situations because his guy was coming on saying it was worth absolutely nothing and was over, and my guy was coming in, and I thought he was being quite reasonable and sort of saying, "Well, this is where," but probably to the higher end, but not ridiculous as far as I was concerned.
But, you know, the judge sort of comes along and sort of usually rules down the middle in a lot of these cases because he says, "Well, if he's saying that and she's saying that, well, then it must be in the middle." Which actually in high-conflict cases is just not true.
So what, what sort of-- well, first of all, let's look at why do you think there is a need for your services out there for people that might be listening?
Y- yeah, I... well, it's difficult to know what a small company is worth, and I think the vast majority of work is small companies, not private, uh, sorry, public companies.
So, you know, it's the corner shop, it's the hairdressers, it's the engineering firm.
Uh, and because there isn't really an easy way of doing it, then there's an immediate conflict of interest because if it's your business that you don't really want to give a great value to, [chuckles] then there are ways that you could suggest that it's worth less than it probably is.
Uh, and similarly, if you're the person that would like to know what the value is, uh, you know, and, and inflate, I'll say inflate, but get the, the best value possible, um, then, you know, it's important that we get that identified.
So we either work as a single joint expert, so we're the one expert working on behalf of both parties and try to get a very balanced view of that, or we could be a party-appointed expert.
And, and we get more of those, which is where one party has said, "Look, my..." very typically, "It's my husband's business, it's been valued by his accountant at X, but I really think it's worth more than that.
Can you have a look at it a- and help?" So that, that's where we tend to get more of our work, probably 70% of our work is when we're working for one party- To try and establish what the value is, because oftentimes the accountant, uh, takes a very, um, how can I say? Conservative, that's probably the best way.
A conservative view, particularly if they've got a, you know, a long relationship with the business owner.
I think, you know, my, my listeners will know that I have a real problem with the injustices and the conflicts of interest in the system, and sometimes when you are dealing with certain experts, especially around children, but also in these kind of situations, you find that someone may have a bias and, you know, when you get experts who go, "Oh, yeah, they're pro dads," or, "Oh, yeah, they're pro mums," or pro him or pro her, you know.
You kind of get that feedback, just like when you walk into court and they go, "Oh, no, it's Judge so-and-so.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
