If you have business partners, you should check the use of a buy/sell contract. When you talk about the agreement, you and your co-owners can discuss important questions about what to do if you have an intractable conflict and someone decides to leave the company. You will also discuss what should happen if one of you is suddenly dead or disabled. Will a spouse become a manager? Will this person`s shares be paid to the family? Clients should play a role in formulating an estate plan. They often have ideas about who will be the best CEO of the company after the owner`s retirement, or have ideas about the new products or services that the company could offer. When discussing the company`s succession plan with key accounts, it can also alleviate customer concern about the company`s future business. When a business leader leaves, whether as a result of retirement, new horizons, disagreements, illness or death, there is a real danger to the company. If the company fails to successfully transition to a new ownership structure, its viability may be reduced or, ultimately, may fail. If a buyout contract is not yet in place, get your corporate lawyer together to discuss how to deal with different exit scenarios: a well-funded corporate succession contract can help a company avoid such unseemly and unnecessary results.
A business lawyer from Stacks Law Firm advises you on funded business estates, discusses your estate planning goals and develops an agreement accordingly. We can help you ensure that your business has strategies to cover various contingencies, including scheduled and unexpected events. It may not be possible to please everyone, solve any problem or buy-in for all parties from the start. The aim is to document a succession plan based on existing realities, to highlight problems and to work over time on long-term solutions. A buy/sell agreement can also reduce stress, while owners all work actively on the business. If all parties feel mutually respected and secure in their future positions, they work in a rather cohesive manner. Many shareholder agreements stipulate that any shareholder who wishes to sell his shares must first offer them to the company and/or other shareholders. But what if one of the owners of the business wants to leave his shares to a parent in his will? Can the owner transfer the assets according to the owner or is he bound by the shareholders` pact? As a general rule, an estate plan is required when the current owners of a business want to play a lesser role, retire or ensure that with death, the business passes into the most appropriate hands. Sometimes the process begins after a conflict experience or to deal with the risk of an imminent future conflict. If the partners had entered into a purchase/sale agreement with a feed-in price or had calculated a formula to assess the shares held by each partner, the surviving owner would have a certain balance of decision-making power. In addition, all (the surviving owner as well as the bereaved family) could be assured of receiving fair value for their shares in the business.
