Money Court season 1, episode 3 preview: Family business

The age-old saying is that “It’s not personal, it’s business.” But Money Court reminds TV viewers that business can be very personal this week as the CNBC series features two cases where the litigants have family ties.

In “Go Big or Go Home,” participants find themselves having to deal with both their professional lives and their home lives. The opening case involves a couple who can’t agree on what to do with $100,000 in available funds; where do they invest it that will most benefit them? Then later, siblings are at odds when one loans the other money to fund a new invention and things don’t turn out as planned. Can the relationship be salvaged from the business?

Every episode of Money Court so far (albeit only three of them!) has had a case that involves a couple, and this one looks fairly tame compared to the man who wanted to sell his family’s dream home to fund his business or the woman who thought her husband ought to buy her a new Mercedes. Compared to those two arguments, this one is different because the company has the profits in hand; they’re not trying to make them. They’ve got the money, but they can just as quickly lose it if Kevin O’Leary doesn’t steer them right.

The latter scenario ought to provoke some decent debacles between Kevin, Katie Phang and Ada Pozo as well. TV viewers have seen in countless court shows how people loan money and then it goes awry, usually with the other party claiming it’s an investment or a gift. But getting involved in any new company comes with a major degree of risk, so will Kevin dismiss the suit as the literal cost of doing business? What’s in the contract? Was there a contract? There are all kinds of ways to slice that case.

Three weeks in Money Court has tackled many of the basic financial scenarios that people disagree over (and that’s not counting the “Ask Kevin” bumpers, which are so far populated by people claiming they’ve had things stolen by major companies). The show is entertaining for Kevin’s blunt quips about every scenario, yet at the same time, it’s laying out examples of what not to do in business. Especially when loved ones are involved, it becomes a minefield, and “Go Big or Go Home” should make that point in spades.

Watch the opening minutes of this Money Court episode below, but to see how these cases are resolved, you’ll have to tune into CNBC tonight to catch the full hour.

Money Court airs Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on CNBC.