Just to play devil's advocate a bit so that you're prepared for a different outcome:
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Originally Posted By: suckerpunch
She has known since before we were married about my share in the business, which is quite small. I own 15%.
She may be entitled to half of that 15%. You'll have a better grasp on this when you bring a lawyer on board.
[quote] She has known that the business is an LLC, which should protect it from any personal involvment.
The business is protected in the respect that she has no claim to the other 85% of it, but she may very well have a claim to half of your portion of it (I did some checking into this recently because I was offered a portion of an LLC).
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giving it to the business so we would be able to benefit from the instests rate.
This actually sounds a little shady. If she can demonstrate that you did this in order to reap some personal benefit on something that really isn't a company asset then it could come back to bite you.
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She knows all too well that she has put money into it, and now she wants some of it back. I get that. unfortunately, I cannot give her any money.
I hope you understand that a judge doesn't care whether you can afford it or not. He/ she is going to base the validity of your W's claim on other factors and award her a portion accordingly. This happens all the time- people argue they can't afford to pay anything, but that is not a valid defense. I can't afford to pay my W half the value of our home either, but I understand full well that I will have to take out a loan to do so. I don't harbor any illusions that not having the money sitting in the bank let's me escape that responsibility.
