Separating with a shared company – the shares

Where one or both of you own a business, there are two separate settlements to handle: the position between you privately, and the position with the company. The first question is whether you are married or cohabiting – the rules are very different.

Community of property does not mean your spouse owns half the shares

This is a common misunderstanding. If you formed a limited company during the marriage and hold all the shares, community of property does not automatically mean your spouse owns 50% of the company. The Marriage Act's starting point is that each spouse controls what they themselves own. On a later division, the spouses' net assets are as a starting point divided equally, but that is a rule about values, not about who owns each asset in company law terms. Someone who wholly or substantially owns an asset also has, as a general rule, the right to keep it on division, unless that would be manifestly unreasonable. In practice one spouse can therefore keep all the shares, while their value affects how much they have to settle with the other.

But the value of the shares can form part of the division

Where spouses have community of property, the starting point is equal division after deducting debt. Where the shares form part of that, the value they represent has to be established – which can become a large question in an unlisted company. Book equity does not necessarily say what the business is worth. A valuation can start from normalised earnings, comparable companies, future cash flow and the company's net debt. The Act does not, however, prescribe a particular method. Where the spouses cannot agree and the value has to be set by court-appointed valuation, the Act's starting point is market value. For a fuller explanation of the methods, see what a business is worth.

Which date is the company valued at?

There is an important rule here that is easily missed. The Marriage Act distinguishes between the cut-off date and the date the settlement is actually completed. The cut-off date is normally the earlier of the date the petition for separation or divorce is received and the date cohabitation actually ended, if that came first. That date determines which assets and debts form part of the settlement. Where a spouse keeps shares they wholly own themselves, section 69 of the Marriage Act says the shares are valued by reference to their value at that cut-off date – not when the parties finally agree one or two years later. That can matter a great deal. If the company was worth NOK 8 million when cohabitation ended and 15 million when the settlement concludes, 15 million is not automatically the figure simply because the settlement took a long time. In other situations the Act can give a different valuation date.

Shares from before the marriage can be subject to skjevdeling

Even where the spouses have community of property, one of them can claim skjevdeling – an unequal division. The value of assets that can clearly be traced back to what a spouse owned before the marriage, or later received by inheritance or gift from someone other than the spouse, can as a general rule be kept out of the division. If you formed or took over the family business before the marriage, skjevdeling can therefore matter a great deal. But the rule does not automatically keep the whole company out. The question is what value can clearly be traced back to those assets, and where there have been large changes in value, capital contributions and substantial value creation during the marriage, that can become a demanding legal assessment. Separate property is something else. Where the shares have been made separate property through a valid marriage settlement or through provisions from a giver or testator, they are as a general rule not covered by equal division. So establish early whether there is a marriage settlement, deed of gift or will affecting the treatment.

For cohabitants the starting point is entirely different

For cohabitants there is, as at September 2026, still no general statutory rule equivalent to spouses' community of property. The proposed new cohabitation act in NOU 2025:6 is a legislative proposal, not rules that apply today. The current main principle is that each cohabitant keeps what they own and is responsible for their own debts. If you own 100% of the shares, your partner does not automatically become owner of half simply because you have lived together for a long time. But agreements, the real ownership position and unwritten rules on co-ownership or financial compensation can make particular cases more complicated. A cohabitant may have contributed substantially to the family finances or to the business without being registered as a shareholder – that does not automatically create ownership, but can, on a specific assessment, give rise to a claim based on co-ownership or compensation. Such claims belong in family law and should not be solved by adding the other party as a shareholder after the event.

If you both own the company, keep the business apart from the conflict

Where you are both shareholders, directors or key people, the separation also has a company law side. Settle quickly who has which roles and authorities, who can operate the bank and payment solutions, who can enter into agreements, and who has access to the accounting, payroll and customer systems. That does not mean one party is automatically locked out. Access and authority belong to the company's governance structure and have to be changed through proper company law decisions. Private conflicts should not be resolved by taking money out of the company or using the company's account as part of the private settlement.

50/50 ownership does not mean every decision stops

A company owned 50/50 can be very prone to conflict, but it is legally imprecise to say the general meeting automatically becomes paralysed. For ordinary decisions the Companies Act requires a majority of the votes cast as a general rule. On a tie, what the chair of the meeting supports prevails, unless the articles provide otherwise. In elections a tie is as a starting point decided by drawing lots. The position is different for decisions requiring a qualified majority. Amending the articles requires at least two thirds both of the votes cast and of the share capital represented, so a 50/50 owner can block such decisions. In practice the board, the financing and day-to-day operations can also become difficult once trust has gone. So check the shareholders' agreement early for provisions on deadlock, sale, valuation or buy-out.

Is one of you buying the other out?

Where you both own shares and one is to continue alone, the shares have to be valued and a settlement agreed. Settle which valuation date applies, how the company is to be valued, what happens to shareholder loans and other balances, and whether the price is paid at once or over time. There is no automatic rule that a 50% holding is worth exactly half the company – but no automatic minority discount either. The value depends on the rights attaching to the shares, the articles, the shareholders' agreement, control and actual transferability. If you have decided that one party will take over the business, our guide to buying out a co-owner is a useful next step.

Spouses have an important tax advantage in the division itself

Where shares are transferred between spouses as part of the division on separation or divorce, the transfer is not treated as a realisation for tax purposes. Skatteetaten's guidance also says the transfer does not change the tax base, whatever matrimonial property regime the spouses have. If spouse A takes over shares with an old tax base of NOK 100,000 and pays spouse B several million as part of the settlement, A does not automatically get a new base of several million. The historical tax position carries forward, and the tax may only become visible many years later if the shares are sold. For ordinary cohabitants the same general rule does not apply. Where one cohabitant sells their personally owned shares to the other, that will normally be a realisation for tax purposes, at 37.84% on the taxable share gain after any shielding in 2026. A pure gift is something different from a sale and can be covered by the continuity rules.

What if the shares are owned through a holding company?

Where one party owns the shares through a Norwegian holding company, a sale by that company of shares covered by the participation exemption can normally be carried out without tax on the gain in the holding company. But a holding company is not a button you can press after the separation has happened. Moving personally owned shares into a holding company before a sale is a separate transaction that has to be assessed for tax. So map the ownership structure before deciding the buy-out model. Nor can the company simply pay for the buy-out. The simplest route is normally for whoever is taking over the shares to finance the purchase privately or through their own holding company. The company can acquire its own shares on certain conditions under chapter 9 of the Companies Act, or give financial assistance under section 8-10 – but those are separate company law transactions. You cannot just move money from the company's account to one party because half the business forms part of the divorce.

Reconcile the balances before you calculate the settlement

In owner-managed companies there are often more financial arrangements between the owners and the company than just the shares. Before the buy-out, the accounts should show clearly what is a shareholder loan, unpaid salary, directors' fees, a declared dividend, expenses and other balances. A loan from a shareholder to the company is a separate claim and does not disappear automatically because the shares are transferred. The earlier those items are separated from the share value, the smaller the risk that the private settlement and the company's accounts get mixed up. When the ownership changes, the share register has to be updated and the transfer correctly reflected in the shareholder register statement. Where the buy-out produces new or changed beneficial owners, the register has to be updated within 14 days.

Keep the company trading while the private settlement is resolved

In a conflicted separation the value of the business can disappear faster than the parties manage to agree who should have it. So stabilise the company early. Roles, authorities and payment routines should be clear. The accounts should be up to date, balances reconciled, and larger decisions documented through proper board and general meeting resolutions. The parties can then deal with valuation and buy-out on a documented basis. Much of this can be prevented in a shareholders' agreement before the conflict arises.

This is general guidance, not advice on your specific case. Deadlines, rates and amounts change – always check the current rules, or get in touch with us.

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