Chicago, IL commercial litigation attorney Terrance Buehler talks about the types of issues that give rise to business divorce. Business divorces can come from a number of situations. He is involved with one now where the company’s been very successful, and out of the five original shareholders, they have decided to boot two of them out. They are entitled to do that; they simply have to pay fair value for the shares.

So, it is simply a dispute now over how much they can be compelled to pay his client so that he can go his separate way and presumably start a competing business. That is the best way he would describe a business divorce. It is just—for whatever reason—people get together, and they are either successful or unsuccessful. Either way, there is frequently a fight over who gets responsibility or who has to take responsibility.