How can you agree on a value for a business that you own together if you are divorcing?

Determining the value of a business is one of the most difficult decisions a couple must make in a divorce. The reason that process is so difficult is that there is little to compare one business to the next. Evaluating a business is not like selling a home, where there might be a dozen in the same neighborhood with the identical condition and floor plan. With a business, you have several options, however. First, you can go to a business broker, whose function is similar to that of a real estate agent and who generally charges a similar fee structure. Second, you can call an accountant who can perform a basic analysis of your profit and loss statements and give you a ballpark figure. Third, and perhaps most expensively, you can commission a full business evaluation by a specially-trained accountant. Those evaluations can run more than $10,000.