Columbus Physician Divorce

Financial Issues and Physician Divorce

Being a doctor tends to be a well-compensated profession. Although new doctors often labor with crippling student loan debt, more established doctors usually have extensive investments, any of which might qualify as “marital property” under Ohio law.

Divorce can impede a person’s ability to start a new practice, move, or retire when they want to. At our firm, we understand the unique legal challenges that confront high net-worth clients:

• Preserving retirement assets, which might be subject to division during divorce
• Maintaining the value of investments, including real estate, stocks, bonds, and other assets
• Keeping your business in one piece so that your spouse does not own part of it after divorce

There is also the sensitive issue of spousal support. Ohio law allows a judge to award support to one spouse to help mitigate the unfairness of the divorce. With many physicians, one spouse works and the other stays home with the children or works a lower-paying job. In this situation, the higher-earning spouse could possibly end up paying large support payments, sometimes indefinitely. It is vital to hire an attorney who can make a compelling argument on your behalf.

On the other hand, many doctors have gigantic student loans or debts they took out to fund their business. The spouse who is not a doctor wants to ensure that he or she does not take over this debt, which also gets divided in a divorce.

If one partner defrauds the other during the valuation process, the defrauded partner can later sue to recover their lawful stake. This, however, is not ideal. Such lawsuits can take years to reach agreements and are very costly. The best road forward is to insist that the business is accurately appraised during the divorce to ensure that your stake is protected. If you need assistance, it is in your best interests to contact a high asset divorce lawyer for immediate help.

Dividing a Practice

A medical practice could qualify as a marital asset, depending on when it was started and how large it grew during the marriage. In some divorces, a portion of the practice’s value will be considered marital, while some other portion is considered the physician’s separate property. Physicians can usually exit a marriage with their separate property, but all marital property is subject to equitable distribution.

When even a fraction of practice is considered marital, there is the possibility that a physician could lose control of her business. The division of marital property is fraught with difficulty whenever a business asset is involved. Disputes often erupt overvaluation and how it will ultimately be divided.

At our firm, we work with clients to attempt to retain control of their practice. In some cases, you can take the entire practice with you but your spouse gets an offsetting amount of other marital assets. For example, you might exit with 100% of the practice but your spouse gets the marital home. In other situations, you need to take different steps if you want to keep full control of your practice. Some of our physician clients might need to take out a loan and buy out their spouse’s share. Selling the practice is not out of the realm of possibility and is definitely something we try to avoid.

Our clients also must ensure the confidentiality of their client’s medical information during a divorce, otherwise they could be breaking federal law. The right attorney can ensure that all parties sign confidentiality agreements and that certain business information is sealed from public view. These steps must be taken very early in the case before information is leaked out or distributed to others involved in the case, such as valuation experts.