If you are like most business owners, the business represents one of your family’s most valuable assets, the realization of a lifelong dream, and one of your greatest achievements. It is not too much of an exaggeration to say that an effective business plan can protect both your financial and emotional health. Not to mention that the efficacy of a business owner’s overall estate plan is predicated on a sound business plan.
Your business plan must accomplish several critical goals. It should take into account the possibility that your business will grow, yet at the same time provide protection against possible downturns in the economy or changes within the business climate itself. In addition, your plan must shield personal and family assets against the possibility of something negative happening to your business. Finally, it must protect you and your business from threats such as:
- Lawsuits
- Your becoming incapacitated or passing away suddenly, which could prevent loved ones from gaining access to assets
- Your manner and timing of exit from your business, particularly if you are concerned about issues like your heirs’ maturity, their marital situation, and more
- Minimizing taxes
- Problematic partners and employees
With a properly designed and implemented plan, you can also ensure that when you decide to transition out of your business, you receive the greatest possible return on your initial investment and years of hard work. That is, it should help you exit your business in the most efficient and tax effective manner possible, when you want, in the manner you want.
We can design a business plan to help you at start-up, exit and at every stage in between. We understand that the best plans are the result of close collaboration with you and your existing executives, advisors, CPAs, attorneys, and others. Depending on your particular needs and situation, we can provide you with all or just a few of these services:
- Company formation
- Choice of business entity
- Structure of business entity
- Purchase or sale of a business
- Ownership issues
- General legal counsel to businesses and individual owners
- Coordination of personal, estate and business plans
- Tax planning
- Reorganization and restructuring
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Shareholder control agreements
- Voting agreements
- Buy-sell agreements
- Shareholder and partner disputes
- Sales and disposition of businesses
- Dissolutions
- Succession planning
- Recapitalization
Discover how our experience, mastery of business and tax law, and collaborative approach can work for your business. Contact us today for an initial consultation.