Chapter 17 - Graham chooses the company again
The Bennett Custom loan maturity approached.
Bank refinance offer:
$110,000 term loan.
Not enough to pay Judith’s $132,000 plus fees.
Eli Porter offered:
$35,000 capital injection in exchange for additional 10% membership interest.
Graham currently owned 100%.
He hated dilution.
Then one investor offered higher-interest private debt.
Risky.
I learned through divorce disclosure.
Not because he asked permission.
Then Graham proposed:
Use $45,000 of our joint savings toward paying Judith, which would preserve his business equity.
Our joint savings were marital.
Could he unilaterally do that during divorce restrictions?
No.
He needed agreement/court.
His argument:
Preserve business value benefits both spouses.
Reasonable.
My response:
Not if it converts liquid marital cash into an asset I do not control at an inflated valuation.
Also reasonable.
Mediation.
Final temporary deal:
$20,000 of marital cash could be used toward business debt if matched by Graham’s separate post-separation funds and documented in property accounting.
He agreed.
Eli invested:
$25,000 for 7% interest.
Bank loan:
$110,000.
Judith paid in full at maturity.
Business survived.
Twenty-six employees kept jobs.
Graham lost some ownership.
Not his life.
The catastrophe he used to justify months of silence turned out to be a refinancing problem.
Difficult.
Expensive.
Solvable.
May you like
I wanted to scream that at him.
Instead I let the numbers say it.
