Sometimes when couples with multiple business interests get divorced, there is an active member in the business and a non-active member. Pamela was is this situation when she was referred to us by her lawyer. As the non-active member, she had little understanding of the different business structures they were involved in, who owned what or what that meant for her financially.

Generally for family law, all of a couple’s assets are considered to be “one pot”. What many people don’t realise is that there are tax implications when pulling that pot apart. In Pamela’s case, she didn’t want all the super which couldn’t be accessed, or all of the assets which would leave her with no liquidity.

We worked with Pamela and her lawyers to develop a solid understanding of all structures that the family held interests in. This included mapping out all the relevant parties and roles of the directors, shareholders, trustees and beneficiaries. Once we had the full picture, we could then advise Pamela of what the tax implications were of taking over parts of the family pot.