You and your partner just went through a divorce, but there are a few problems.

The two of you work together, and you can’t afford to quit your job. How are you supposed to make this work?

Don’t worry. It’s not impossible.

Take a look at these eight tips that’ll teach you how to get through a divorce when you work with your spouse.

1. Keep Legal, Emotional, and Financial Things Separate

When you split up with your partner, it’s easy to let personal issues get in the way of your business relationship. If you’re going to work together successfully, you have to keep those to aspects of your life apart.

This becomes even more important when you’re going through a divorce.

You have to untangle your life and separate it into different sections. Your legal, emotional, financial, etc. problems shouldn’t mix with your business life.

It’s a good idea to sit down with your ex-partner and talk about your business expectations. Come up with concrete plans and goals for your work life together so you know how things will be moving forward.

2. Stay Respectful of Your Ex-Partner

It can be hard to respect your partner after a divorce. Depending on what happened during the relationship, especially if cheating was involved, a lack of trust and respect could have been one of the factors that lead to the divorce.

That’s why communication is so important.

If you have a hard time respecting your ex-partner, do your best to foster open communication. As long as you and your ex-partner both do what you say you’re going to do no matter how hard it gets, you can build a healthy business relationship.

But remember to give each other compassion too. Both of you are going through a hard time, and empathizing will only help the relationship.

3. Create a Shareholders Agreement

Business partners should always create a shareholders agreement. This type of agreement states what will happen if one of the partners decides to sell their portion of the business.

Most married couples don’t think about signing an agreement like this.

If you don’t have one of these agreements in place, you need to create one as soon as possible. This will prevent you from losing everything if something goes wrong.

A shareholders agreement is security that you both will be able to continue working at your job. Without the fear of having to find a new job, you can take the time to learn how to work together.

4. Define Your Business Roles

Sit down with your ex-partner and really define the roles and responsibilities you’ll both be taking care of at work. Find out which tasks you’ll both be doing and when those things will get done.

If you don’t do this, you might end up micromanaging each other.

This can be emotionally draining and cause conflict in the business. By defining your business roles and having clear communication, you don’t have to constantly work together even though you “work together.”

When you take the time to define your business roles, you might even decide you don’t need to work together after all.

5. Get Outside Help

Ex-partners who work together still have to see each other almost every day. This constant contact can make it harder to heal. Seeking outside help can make the divorce easier and help you find a way to work with your ex-partner.

This outside help might involve talking to a professional on your own or getting therapy with your ex-partner.

While this may seem odd, it can help the two of you learn how to communicate and succeed in your business relationship. At the very least, it will help you heal from the separation.

6. Have a Conversation with Your Employees

You can’t leave your employees out of the loop when you’re going through a divorce. If you don’t explain anything to them, the employees might start to pick sides, kind of like your kids (find out more here).

This can cause the business to fall apart from the inside.

Be honest with your employees. When they hear you’re getting a divorce, they might be worried about their jobs. Explain what’s going on and what they can expect.

If you aren’t the first ones to tell your employees about the divorce, they might feel like you don’t trust them. This can cause them to lose their trust in you as well.

7. Take a Break

It’s okay to give yourself some alone time after going through a divorce. In fact, it can benefit your business.

For some people, rushing straight back to work after the divorce finalizes isn’t a good idea. Your relationship will already be tense from the divorce, and seeing each other every day can make things worse.

Taking some time by yourself can give you a transition period. Time can make it easier to work together on a professional level.

8. Come to Terms with Your New Relationship

No matter what you decide to do now, those decisions are never final. This can be a helpful thing to remember when working with an ex-partner.

Continuing to work with them might be a good idea for you right now, but that might change in the future. If you do stay with the business, your position might shift later down the road.

Knowing this can take some of the pressure off your decisions. It can also give you a chance to get used to the new working relationship.

How to Get Through a Divorce When You Work Together

Working with your ex-partner after a divorce might seem impossible at first. But if you keep your personal life and your business life separated, you can make it work.

It’s possible, but it’s still hard.

It takes a lot of clear communication. But as time goes by, it will get easier.

Trying to figure out how to get through a divorce? Make sure you take a look at this helpful advice.