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Is your spouse going to divorce you for a new business?

When your spouse first mentioned starting a new business, you felt excited. They’ve always had a lot of success doing this in the past, and your family is very well off financially as a result. Most of those businesses started before you got married, but the wealth carried over.

As your spouse gets to work on this new venture, though, you notice some serious changes to your relationship. It seems to be quickly declining. Before long, you worry that your spouse may divorce you because of this new company. Are you being paranoid?

Probably not. Though every relationship is unique, experts do point out that business owners likely get divorced more than others. A few reasons this happens include the following:

1. The business costs money

Starting a business is not cheap. Your spouse pours all of your extra money into it. Suddenly, the budget is fairly tight. You no longer have enough for vacations, nice restaurants and a lot of other perks that you enjoyed in your marriage. Maybe you even start falling into debt. Money problems end a lot of marriages, and new businesses are notoriously money pits. It’s not a healthy combination.

2. Your spouse gets consumed with the company

Once the business runs smoothly, your spouse may take a step back and delegate a lot of responsibilities. This gives you some time together. At the start, though, he or she spends all free time at the business. It consumes your spouse. They talk about nothing else. You see each other for a few minutes at the beginning and end of the day, and that’s it. Slowly, your personal relationship fades away until you feel like glorified roommates.

3. Your spouse actually prefers the company

The issues listed above get to be most problematic when your spouse, who has essentially fallen in love with this new business idea, would rather work on it than spend time with you. It’s not just an obligation. It’s a choice. Pretty soon, you wonder if your spouse even cares about you anymore.

4. Work stress comes home

Starting a new company can become difficult. Your spouse lives under a lot of stress. His or her obsession with the company makes the stress worse. Then your spouse starts bringing it home. You find yourselves fighting over little things around the house because your spouse had a stressful day at work. Your marriage erodes when you cannot get along.

Working through a divorce

A situation like this makes for a potentially complex and difficult divorce. Make sure you fully understand all of your legal options and the steps you need to take. When a marriage ends, you need to know how to fight for what you deserve.

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