Understandably so, your business may be the one asset that you are most proud of. With this, you may not want your business operations to fade out when the time comes that you are, unfortunately, no longer around. Rather, you may want to ensure that your legacy lives on in the years, decades, and even centuries following your passing. For this reason, incorporating your business plans into your personal estate plan proves to be pivotal. Read on to discover how you can use your estate plan to protect your business and how a seasoned Broward County estate lawyer at The Probate Lawyers can guide you through it.
How can I use my estate plan to protect my business?
Essentially, you may protect your business in your estate plan the same ways you protect your personal assets (i.e., a will, trust, power of attorney, and buy-sell agreement). It is worth mentioning that there is no standard formula for business estate planning. On the contrary, you must craft a plan that is unique to your specific business goals. With that being said, when figuring out how to best protect your business, you may want to ask yourself the following questions:
- As the sole owner of the business and being single, should I plan to close down or sell my business upon my passing?
- As a partner in the business and having a young family, should I plan to transfer my ownership rights to my business partner upon my passing?
- With having grown children working for my business, should I plan to have them take over the business operations upon my passing?
- With complicated family dynamics, should I plan to have another family member besides my children take over the business operations upon my passing?
How can I establish a business succession plan?
Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and buy-sell agreements are beneficial for small business owners. However, you may need to take additional measures if your business is significant in size and complexity; and if you forsee these attributes only expanding upon themselves when you are no longer around. With a business like this, you may want to strongly consider establishing a business succession plan.
Essentially, this is a business strategy to ensure that your business operations continue to run smoothly and without interruption when an important business leader, such as yourself, has retired, become incapacitated, or unfortunately passed on. Without further ado, a business succession plan consists of the following elements:
- A succession timeline.
- A list of prospective successors.
- A formalized standard operating procedure.
- A business valuation outline.
- A succession funding outline.
So when it comes to your business succession plan, there is no question that a competent Broward County estate lawyer is the best fit for you. Please contact The Probate Lawyers at your earliest possible convenience.
