Harriet PriceWhen jewellery designer Jennifer Meyer was declared legally single on 21 September 2026 — nearly a decade after her separation from actor Tobey Maguire — the headlines focused on the celebrity angle. What received less attention was the fact that her financial settlement, which includes the fate of her multi-million-dollar jewellery business, remains entirely unresolved. A private mediator has been appointed, and months of further negotiations lie ahead. For the 2.1 million married small business owners in England and Wales, her story poses a question worth taking seriously: if your marriage ended tomorrow, what would happen to your company?
The News That UK Entrepreneurs Should Be Reading
Jennifer Meyer filed for divorce in October 2016. The Los Angeles Superior Court filed the divorce judgment on 1 October 2026, with the couple officially declared single six days earlier. Yet the financial settlement — covering property, pensions, and Meyer's jewellery business, reportedly valued in the region of $20–25 million — remains before a private judge.
The delay is not unusual in cases involving business interests. Agreeing on a valuation, accounting for goodwill, and structuring a clean break from an asset that cannot simply be split in two takes time. In England and Wales, the average financial remedy case involving a business takes 18 to 24 months from the point of separation to resolution — and that is before a contested court hearing adds further delay.
Meyer's situation illustrates why celebrity divorces tend to drag on: not because lawyers are slow, but because businesses are genuinely complex marital assets.
The Question UK Business Owners Are Actually Asking
Is my business part of the matrimonial pot if we divorce?
In England and Wales, the short answer is: if you started or substantially grew the business during the marriage, almost certainly yes.
Under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, the family court divides matrimonial property "fairly," with a starting presumption of equal division. A business built during the marriage — even if only one spouse worked in it — is typically treated as a jointly built asset. The non-working spouse's indirect contributions (childcare, domestic support, foregoing their own career) are given real legal weight.
Scotland takes a different approach. Under the Family Law (Scotland) Act 1985, only assets acquired during the marriage count as matrimonial property. A business you brought into the marriage is generally protected — only its post-marriage growth is potentially divisible.
In both jurisdictions, the picture changed significantly in 2025. The Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Standish v Standish [2025] UKSC 26 confirmed that the sharing principle applies only to matrimonial property. For English and Welsh business owners, this means pre-marital business value now carries stronger ring-fencing protection than before. However, the ruling also confirmed that where assets are genuinely intermingled with matrimonial property over a long marriage, courts retain discretion to treat them as part of the pot.
The practical upshot: if you founded your business before marrying and kept its finances entirely separate throughout, you have a stronger argument today than you did two years ago. But "stronger argument" is not "guaranteed protection" — and that distinction matters enormously when real money is on the table.
How UK Courts Value a Business in Divorce
Family courts do not guess at a business's worth. They instruct a single joint expert — typically a forensic accountant — to produce an independent valuation.
The valuation process generally covers:
- Net asset value (the book value of company assets minus liabilities)
- Earnings-based valuation (a multiple of EBITDA or sustainable profit, typically 3–6× in professional services firms)
- Goodwill, including personal goodwill (tied to the owner) and enterprise goodwill (independent of the owner) — only the latter is usually divisible
- Future maintainable earnings, particularly where the business depends heavily on one partner's ongoing involvement
This process costs between £3,500 and £9,000 depending on the complexity of the business, and takes six to twelve weeks. Where both parties dispute the valuation, a second expert may be appointed, roughly doubling the cost and timeline.
According to the UK government's guidance on divorce and financial settlement, parties are strongly encouraged to agree a single joint expert wherever possible — contested valuations significantly increase costs and court time.
Concrete Case: What This Means for a UK Business Owner
Consider the position of Claire, 44, who co-founded a specialist HR consultancy in Manchester in 2015 — two years after her wedding. By 2026, the business employs nine people, generates £650,000 in annual turnover, and carries a professional valuation of £420,000.
Claire's husband has never worked in the business, but has been the primary carer for their two children throughout. When they separate in mid-2026, the consultancy — founded entirely during the marriage — is almost certainly a matrimonial asset under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.
If Claire and her husband can agree on an offsetting arrangement — he takes a larger share of their £490,000 jointly owned home and Claire retains 100% of the business — then the financial settlement can be reached within 9 to 12 months, with total legal costs of approximately £20,000–£30,000.
If they cannot agree, and the case proceeds to a contested Financial Remedy hearing, legal costs can escalate to £45,000–£70,000. In a worst case, a court-imposed settlement might include a revenue-sharing order: Claire pays her ex-husband a percentage of company distributions for up to three years while she raises funds to buy out his share — a significant operational constraint for a growing consultancy.
The difference between the two outcomes — roughly £25,000 versus £60,000, with full operational control versus restricted distributions — often hinges on whether both parties engaged a specialist family law solicitor early enough to structure a realistic proposal before positions hardened.
Restructuring Your Business During Proceedings: The Danger Zone
One of the most common mistakes business owners make during divorce proceedings is attempting to restructure the business to reduce its apparent value. Transferring assets, increasing director salaries, issuing new shares to family members, or taking unsecured loans from the company all raise red flags in financial remedy proceedings.
Under English family law, any deliberate dissipation of assets can result in the court notionally adding those assets back to the matrimonial pot — and making adverse cost orders against the party responsible. This is not a theoretical risk: it is litigated regularly, particularly in cases involving private limited companies.
As the Standish v Standish ruling made clear, the court's discretion in financial remedy cases remains wide. Judges are not easily persuaded that a £400,000 business has become a £200,000 business simply because of pre-hearing restructuring.
Before Separation: Practical Steps That Make a Difference
If you own a business and your marriage is under strain — or even if it is not — the following steps are worth taking now:
Maintain clean financial records. Courts scrutinise the commingling of personal and business finances. The cleaner the separation between them, the cleaner the eventual legal proceedings.
Document pre-marital business value. If you brought a business into the marriage, have it valued now. This creates a baseline that supports ring-fencing arguments under Standish.
Consider a post-nuptial agreement. While not strictly legally binding in England and Wales, post-nuptial agreements carry real weight in court since Radmacher v Granatino [2010] UKSC 42. A clearly drafted agreement specifying what happens to the business in the event of divorce is far better than nothing.
Engage Non-Court Dispute Resolution early. Since April 2024, English courts require parties in financial remedy cases to demonstrate they have genuinely considered mediation or other non-court routes. Couples who use mediation typically resolve financial matters in 6–9 months; those who don't tend to spend 18–24 months in litigation.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Business valuation in divorce is fact-specific; always consult a qualified family law solicitor for advice tailored to your circumstances.
Jennifer Meyer's divorce proceedings may run through 2027 before a final settlement is reached. The earlier UK business owners get specialist legal advice in their own separations, the more control they retain over the outcome.
A family law solicitor with financial remedy expertise — available through ExpertZoom — can map your business's exposure, recommend a forensic accountant, and structure a negotiating position before the process becomes adversarial.
