The claim to a business or property that´s acquired or earned during the marriage depends a lot on what state you are in. That being said, if you are going to try to negotiate a settlement, it´s interesting to know that what your spouse has done during the marriage may or may not depend a lot on you. I have had people come in very successful businessmen and say to me I was married to her for 25 years, she´s the mother of all four of my children. There´s no way I could have built this business without her being there for me. I want to divide everything down the middle. I want to do what´s fair. I want to give her half of everything and more. And then there´s people that come in and say she didn´t do anything. She sat on the couch. She ate bombons. She didn´t help at all. She didn´t network. She didn´t make casseroles for my boss when I was a young whatever starting out. In California, it doesn´t make a difference. Community property is one half. Equitable distribution states, the judicial officer will listen to the circumstances, how the property was acquired or built up. So it´s going to depend. One thing I think is important is as you are trying to negotiate how to settle the case if your spouse understands what you did and understands what you are going to continue to do if you have children and you are raising those children because you are still going to be a partner with this person to some extent, the settlement might go easier. And if can spend less money on attorneys trying to figure that out, there is more for each of you.