This type of split could weaken the company because of one partner's absence, drain the company financially because of the settlement, or worse yet, necessitate its sale. With the breakup of a marriage often comes a second marriage or even a third or fourth. While no one enters a marriage with the expectation that it will fail, the fact that it can should give pause to the family business owner. Although the emotional toll usually cannot be prevented, the financial toll can. All states and individual jurisdictions within each state are different regarding a spouse's right to acquire property and income generated during a marriage.
Most jurisdictions recognize that property acquired during a marriage belongs to both spouses.
Anything brought into the marriage that was acquired before the marriage and still separately identifiable belongs to the spouse who brought it. Any property such as gifts and inheritances going to one spouse, even though acquired during the marriage, belongs to the spouse receiving the property, as long as it's not commingled with other marital assets so that it can no longer be identified. The most common commingled asset is cash that is received and put into a joint bank account. In addition to rights to the marital property, each spouse has rights to income generated by the family. The amount of income and the duration of the payments often depends on the length of the marriage.