Business Succession

If you own a family business, retirement is not just a matter of no longer working. The question of what will happen to the business you spent a lifetime building will be a significant concern. Business succession planning is about establishing a smooth transition between you and the future owners of your business.

In any business succession plan, you must consider how the business will be managed when you are gone. You also must understand the tax implications, and your options to minimize them. Finally, there are issues concerning the impact of your decisions on your family members and the relationships among them.

You need to carefully consider when and how to involve your family members. To some extent, you must ascertain their expectations regarding the future of the business. With due sensitivity to those expectations, you have to realistically determine if one or more of your family members are able to take over.

A good plan will endeavor to provide an equal value of your total estate to the members of your family. However, you have to be mindful that if the wrong person (or people) is managing the business, ultimately there will be less for everyone to share.

If you want to pass your family business along to the next generation, putting off business succession planning is the worst thing you can do. We can help you prepare a good plan that will ensure you have the funds you need to retire and that the business you have built continues to thrive in the hands of the next generation.