Return Engagement
Not your typical turn of events when Splitsville brings an ex-couple to begin a business
After Yvette Betancourt and Martyn Verster divorced and sold the
transportation business they'd started, the last thing they
expected was to grow another startup. But Betancourt, 36, decided
to start a real estate title and escrow office. And Verster, 50, an
attorney, had experience doing real estate legal work.
"Though the marriage had not worked, the business had
always worked," Betancourt says. So in August 2004, three
years after ending their 13-year marriage, they opened The Closing
Company Title and Escrow Services in Miami. Today, the company
employs six and 2005 revenues are projected at $1 million.
Work is peaceful, despite the fact that they share two children
and are each involved in new relationships. "The things that
we argued about when we were married don't entirely
disappear," says Betancourt, the firm's president.
"But by facing the reality that the only things that matter
are the business and the children, it's made everything
easier."
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