What is the best business structure for married business partners?

Both spouses will be working on the business.





Is it okay to use a sole propietorship and treat one of the spouses as an employee?





Or is it better to draw up a partnership with percentages assigned to each spouse?





What are the implications were the marriage to go south?What is the best business structure for married business partners?
It is best to have percentages assigned to each of you, whether it's a 50-50 split or 60-40 or however you wish to divide the business. It's just less messy when things don't work out as we intended it to be





Whether you go for a partnership or LLC, what you need also is a buy-sell agreement. This will spell out what happens when one or both of the partners want out of the business, or when one dies (and in your case, when the couple separates).





Have a lawyer draft a buy sell agreement for you. Here's a sample buy sell agreement that you can check out





http://contracts.onecle.com/tier/bildner鈥?/a>





If you want an owner-employee situation, you can most certainly have that, depending on whether your wife agrees to it.





I suggest you check out a lawyer specializing in small businesses to properly guide you how your business should be set up