The stock usually must be valued, which can cause great disruption to the corporation. And a court's valuation may cause a divorcing minority shareholder to owe the spouse an unrealistic amount of money, or may result in the spouse being awarded half of the stock, usually an unworkable result. One asset often divided in a divorce is a spouse's retirement plan. But a court cannot order the Plan Administrator to offer the non-employee spouse a payout option not offered in the plan itself. But not all profit sharing plans allow a roll-out in the event of divorce.
Responsible individuals make wills, do estate planning, and maintain life insurance.
Those precautions cover the contingency of a marriage ending by death. But because about half of the marriages in the United States end by divorce, additional measures should be considered. While it usually does not make sense for a young engaged couple to enter into a prenuptial agreement, individuals contemplating marriage who have children from a prior marriage, or who own an interest in a family corporation, or who have substantial property, should receive sound legal advice about whether a prenuptial agreement makes sense for them. Divorce clients with substantial assets at risk need that kind of representation at the time of divorce. Most of a divorcing couple's assets, including unvested retirement plans and unvested stock options, are subject to division.