[WhiteTulipGreenLeaves]

I am so sorry to hear your situation. In a way it is similar to mine. I have dedicated 12 years of my life to a man who needed love, support, counselling and patience, I gave him everything I had and now I have nothing left. He does what he wants and literally laughs at me when I remind him of the promises he made me, so now I have no option to walk away before I end up being a shadow of my formal self.
Anyway… Regarding your situation being a shareholder and having 50%, your husband did that probably to avoid tax. He could have used your tax free allowance and your dividend allowance to avoid paying all the tax himself. Dividends are taxed at only 7% not the usual 33%  so he’s saved a lot in tax using your name. As a shareholder you do have rights, including to vote in and out Directors etc. if you have 50% and he does too he can not out vote you on decisions to be made on the business. You will have voting power, ownership, the right to transfer ownership, dividends, the right to inspect corporate documents and the right to sue for wrongful acts. The £20k should legally be yours, it’s gone into the family pot anyway and generally divorce = 50/50 split. Dividends are usually decided at the end of the companies tax year, shareholder have to vote how much they’re getting and agree there’s enough profit in the business to pay it. Usually this is just a paperwork exercise so there will be ‘Director/ Shareholder Meeting Notes’ showing the decision. Those dividends also should have been put through HMRC and a tax return would have been submitted in your name and the appropriate tax should have been paid. You will be entitled to see all the paperwork, if you know his accountant call them and get them to email you a copy.

Do you know if he has you as a Director? If he does that is more complicated.
If you know the name of the company look it up here to find out Directors, turnover etc. https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-a-company

Getting advice is key, solicitors usually offer 30 minutes free so maybe get a list of questions together and call and speak to 10 different solicitors if you need to.

[WhiteTulipGreenLeaves]

You have to bare in mind it’s him NOT you. He chose to walk out and make this situation for you and the children. Maybe write a list of all the things you used to not like about him and all the things he did that were wrong, then I’m sure you will realised that although it hurts now you are better off without him and you deserve better. Whether you find someone in the future, or chose not to, the most important thing to focus on is you! You deserve your own love, your own care and your own respect. What ever you would have given him over the coming years give to yourself, he doesn’t deserve it, you do. xx

[WhiteTulipGreenLeaves]

I’ve just written a really lengthy response and I pressed Submit and it’s not showing. 😫

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