If you get a divorce, you may lose control of your Louisiana medical practice. However, there are steps that you can take to keep it in your control after your marriage is officially dissolved. For instance, you could choose to create a buy/sell agreement that limits who can take control of your share of the practice.
Keep the practice out of the marital estate
There are a few things that you can do in an effort to keep the practice out of your marital estate. First, you can put it in a trust that would technically own it, which would shield the asset from state property division laws. Second, you could structure the practice as an LLC, which would make the entity separate from its owner. Therefore, it would be harder for your spouse to claim it in a settlement. Finally, you could include the practice in a prenuptial agreement. Although it would still technically be in the marital estate, it would be classified as separate property nonetheless.
Buy insurance
You can buy an insurance policy that would be used to buy your spouse out in the event of a divorce. The payment would allow you to keep the practice in your control, which would allow you to benefit from it indefinitely.
Take action in a timely manner
If it is deemed that a trust or prenuptial agreement were made in bad faith, they could potentially be invalidated. This may be true if the trust was made only days before filing divorce papers or if a prenuptial agreement was signed while under duress. Documents may also be invalidated if there are technical or other errors that render them noncompliant with state law.
Your medical practice is just one of many assets that might be lost in a divorce if you aren’t proactive in protecting them. In addition to protecting assets, a quality divorce plan may also help you obtain child support, alimony or other resources from your spouse in a final settlement.