Once married does wife own half LTD company even if not a shareholder?

[jimster_s]

hi
just a quick question.
If somebody is a sole director or a ltd company and they get married, does their wife then get to own half the ltd company? If the couple then split up is the wife entitled to half of the ltd company?
I originally thought the answer was no because the ltd company is its own entity, however ive been told this is wrong.

If the man owns 100% of the shares to the lts company and gets married, does the woman then have a claim on 50% of them shares, making her sort of own 50% of the company?

can anybody shed any light on the marriage issue with a ltd company?

thanks

 

[deniser]

The answer is no but if you get divorced then the courts will decide how the assets of both parties are to be divided and if it is a long marriage they will probably be split equally.

 

[Clarkmans]

You can get a pre-nuptial agreement if you want to try and protect your assets prior to getting married.

We've got an article on our website about pre nuptial agreements that you may find useful Pre Nuptial Agreements

Clare

 

[midgetman]

In a word no, a director needs to be appointed.

 

[JElder]

He's asking about ownership, not being a director. AFAIK, there's no automatic right, but in a divorce the court may choose to allocate the shares.

I suspect it's not that likely, as shares in small companies are not very liquid. He is more likely to award the value of the shares in cash or other assets.

The shares are owned by the owner until that time, and he is responsible for tax on them.

 

[All Seasons IP]

You can get a pre-nuptial agreement if you want to try and protect your assets prior to getting married.

We've got an article on our website about pre nuptial agreements that you may find useful Pre Nuptial Agreements

Clare

Hi Clare

I have a quick question. Are pre-nups legally binding for non-"big money" cases? It occurs to me that for most people's circumstances, the usual tried and tested factors of needs (any children?), resources and duration of marriage would override the pre-nup. Thus, in this case, the pre-nup would only protect the company if it would be fair to do so because (i) the ex has lots of money already, or perhaps (ii) they have been married for a very short length of time.

I am not a family lawyer, so maybe I am wrong about this and would be interested in your comment.

Best wishes

Mitch