My former spouse and I owned and operated a business together in Florida and the judge’s order kicked me out of the business.  Can I appeal that decision?

Yes.  However, you should be aware of the fact that the law generally suggests that a divorce court judge should not leave spouses in business together with each other after a divorce is finalized.  Usually, one spouse will receive the business, and this is usually the spouse that is predominantly involved with running the business. Otherwise, the court can order the business sold with each party receiving a portion of the sales proceeds.

On a similar note, it is typically an abuse of discretion for a Florida divorce court judge to keep spouses together in a closely held corporation held with other shareholders.  The theory behind this is that if both spouses own the business, one spouse can “gang up” on the other to achieve majority control and essentially make the other spouse’s interest in the business worthless. 

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