D is also for “pawning your DEBT onto someone else.” I am mightily relieved that this fellow is not my husband:
Q.: I own a business and run it as a DBA. Can I sell it to my spouse? And can my spouse assume all the debt attached to the business? What do you gain by selling a debt-ridden business to your spouse (unless maybe you’re getting divorced)?
A.: You cannot sell a DBA business to anyone–not even your spouse. There’s no business to sell, because the DBA is just another name for you. Without a business entity, the debt is in your name and you will need your creditors’ permission to transfer it. Otherwise, you could technically be engaging in fraud. Even if you could transfer the business to her, does it really matter? If you’re married filing jointly, the debt will show up on your tax returns regardless of whether it’s in your name or hers.
Are things so bad between you that you’d really want to stick it to your wife by selling her this debt-ridden albatross? If so, you may need legal counsel of a very different nature.
This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 7:55 am and is filed under Basic Training, Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.Leave a Reply
