Divorce of a business owner: what are the business and shares worth?

You run a bakery, a garage or a practice in France, or you hold the shares of the SARL (private limited company) that owns it, and you are divorcing. Your spouse claims “half the business”; you reply that without you it is worth nothing. The liquidating notaire (French civil-law notary) needs a value, and the accountant has given you the amount of the share capital. This guide explains how the business and the shares enter the liquidation, what is separate and what is community property, and what a valuation report establishes.

What happens in practice

The divorce does not touch the business itself. It carries on, with the same owner-manager, the same staff, the same lease. What is divided is its value, or a fraction of its value, in the liquidation of the matrimonial regime.

The liquidation goes through three stages. First classification: are the business or the shares the separate property of the spouse who runs it, or community property of both spouses? That is a question of law, settled by the notaire and the lawyers, sometimes by the court. Then valuation: what is the community part worth at the date of partition, and what are the investments financed by one estate for the benefit of the other worth? Finally partition: the owner-manager keeps the business and pays a soulte (equalising payment), or a récompense (compensation between spouses) is entered in the liquidation accounts.

Many people are involved: the notaire, the two lawyers, the company’s accountant, who supplies the accounts but is not there to arbitrate between the spouses, and the valuation expert, appointed by one spouse, by both, or by the court. Where the premises are held by an SCI (société civile immobilière, a French property-holding company) and the business by a SARL, the two companies are valued together, because the value of one company’s shares depends on the rent paid by the other.

What French law says

Under the statutory regime, a business created during the marriage is community property. The community consists of the acquisitions made by the spouses during the marriage, from their personal work as well as from their savings (article 1401 of the French Civil Code). Every asset is presumed to be community property unless proved otherwise (article 1402). A business created or bought after the marriage with the couple’s income is therefore community property, even if only one spouse runs it.

What is separate property. Assets owned before the marriage or received by inheritance or gift are separate (article 1405), as is anything acquired by reinvestment of separate funds, if the deed says so (article 1434). Tools of the trade needed for a spouse’s profession are separate by nature, except where they are ancillary to a community business (article 1404).

Management stays with the owner-manager. The spouse who carries on a separate profession alone has the power to perform the acts it requires (article 1421, paragraph 2). But he or she cannot sell a community business without the other’s consent (article 1424).

Company shares: title and finance. Shares subscribed with community funds are community property in value, even if only the subscribing spouse is a shareholder. The other spouse may claim shareholder status for half the shares, if notified of the contribution or acquisition (article 1832-2). The case law consistently distinguishes shareholder status, which is personal, from the value of the shares, which is community property.

Récompenses. Where the community has financed a separate asset, or a separate asset the community, the récompense is at least equal to the subsisting benefit (article 1469, paragraph 3). The formula laid down by the Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil and commercial matters) for works applies to investments in a business: value with, value without, proportion of the financing (Cass. 1re civ., 23 May 2024, appeal no. 22-18.911, discussed on this site).

The date. Assets are valued at the date closest to partition (article 829, by reference from article 1476). The owner-manager may apply for preferential allocation of the business in whose operation he or she takes part (article 831).

What a valuation report changes

The report gives a reasoned value, at the date requested, for each of the items at stake.

For a fonds de commerce (the business as a going concern: goodwill, lease rights, fixtures, clientele), it starts from three financial years, adjusts the accounts, then cross-checks the methods. The adjustments count as much as the methods: the manager’s pay brought back to a normal level, the rent brought back to market level where the premises belong to the owner-manager or their SCI, exceptional items removed. Then come the trade scales as a percentage of turnover, the multiple of adjusted operating profit, and comparison with sales of similar businesses. Stock and equipment are valued separately, as is the leasehold right.

For company shares, it establishes the restated net asset value: business or property at market value, cash, less debts and shareholder current accounts. The spouse’s current account is itself an asset to be divided, and often forgotten. Discounts may apply depending on the block of shares valued and the articles of association, each of them reasoned. Where the owner-manager keeps all the shares, a minority discount makes no sense; an illiquidity discount is open to discussion.

For a récompense, it supplies two values at the same date, with and without the investment financed by the other estate, and the cost of that investment at the time.

The Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (the French property valuation charter) lists the valuation of businesses and shares among the specialities of certain property valuation experts (6th edition, November 2025, Title II, § 8.5) and requires the assumptions to be set out in writing (Title I, § 2.2). The report does not classify assets as separate or community property, does not audit the accounts, and does not fix the compensatory allowance. It gives the values on which those questions are settled.

A worked example

A bakery in Concarneau run through a SARL by the husband, who holds all the shares, subscribed during the marriage with community funds. The spouses are married without a marriage contract. The husband proposes to value the shares “at capital”, that is €10,000.

The report adjusts the accounts of the last three financial years: turnover of €420,000, operating profit of €70,000 after a normal manager’s salary of €40,000. The trade scales place the business between 60 and 80 % of turnover, that is €250,000 to €340,000; the multiple of adjusted operating profit, between three and four, gives €210,000 to €280,000. Three sales of comparable bakeries in southern Finistère confirm the lower part of the range. The business is valued at €260,000.

The restated net asset value of the SARL: business €260,000, cash €30,000, less a loan of €90,000 and a shareholder current account of €20,000, that is €180,000. The shares are worth €180,000, and the husband’s current account, €20,000, is a further community asset. The community assets attributable to the business amount to €200,000. The wife is entitled to €100,000, against €5,000 on the basis proposed. The husband keeps the shares by preferential allocation and pays the soulte, financing it with a personal loan or with distributions from the company over several years.

Common mistakes

• Using the share capital. Capital is a historical figure. The value of the shares depends on the business, the cash and the debts.
• Confusing turnover with value. A scale expressed as a percentage of turnover is a starting point, never a conclusion, especially for a business with low profitability.
• Forgetting a normal salary for the manager. Operating profit calculated with a very low salary overvalues the business; the opposite undervalues it.
• Forgetting the current account. It reduces the value of the shares and at the same time constitutes a claim to be divided.
• Valuing at the date of separation. The law uses the date of partition, and the accounts of the last closed financial year.
• Ignoring the premises. An SCI that lets the premises to the SARL must be valued with it, and the rent checked.

What to gather

• The current articles of association, the company registration extract (Kbis), any shareholders’ agreement.
• The balance sheets and tax returns of the last three financial years, with the detail of current accounts.
• The marriage contract if there is one, and the deed creating or acquiring the business or the shares.
• The commercial lease and, if the premises are held by a company, its articles and accounts.
• The loan repayment schedules.
• Evidence of personal contributions: gift, inheritance, sale of a separate asset.
• Major investments made during the marriage, with how they were financed.
• The stage of the proceedings and the contact details of the lawyers and the notaire.

Timeframe and fee

The service falls under the valuation of businesses and company shares, quoted on time spent at €65 per hour, VAT not applicable, article 293 B of the French General Tax Code. For the shares of an SCI holding a single property, most often from €1,300 travel not included. For a business with its operating company and, where relevant, the SCI holding the premises, the quote depends on the number of financial years and companies to be covered. The report is usually delivered four weeks after receipt of the accounts and the articles. Travel is charged at €65 per hour or part hour from PONT-L’ABBÉ, 50 % deposit on ordering.

The Businesses and company shares page describes the assignment and the Fees page gives the full scale. For the couple’s home in the same divorce, see the guide on the value of the home and the equalising payment.