Hamilton BusinessSuccession Lawyer

Hamilton Business Succession Lawyer

Running a business is no small task. Small and medium-sized business owners’ lives are quite busy. If you are a business owner, you may find yourself caught up in worrying about the day-to-day running of your business, causing you not to plan the succession of your business. However, considering how long it took you to build your business and all the hard work you put in when building your business, you must think about what will happen to your business if you retire or the unexpected happens.

One of the biggest risks to the future of a business is the death, incapacitation, or retirement of the business founder or owner. As a business owner or founder, have you ever asked yourself what will happen to your business when you retire, die or become incapacitated? People often avoid thinking or talking about death and incapacitation but the reality is that they are both a part of life. Issues like power struggles, taxes, and an unprepared next generation can cause the business you have toiled so hard for to fail in as little as one year after your exit.

You don’t want that to happen. This is why you need to start thinking about business succession planning. The retirement, incapacity, or death of a business owner without a proper business succession plan in place can jeopardize a business and result in major issues or even cause the business to fail. You should not take that risk. Instead, protect the business you have worked so hard for by developing a succession plan with the help of a skilled business succession lawyer.

A business succession lawyer can help you create a plan that takes into account what happens to the business you have toiled so hard for if you retire. A skilled lawyer can also help you create a plan that takes into account what happens to your business in the event of an untimely death or incapacitation.

What Is Business Succession Planning?

In simple terms, business succession planning is when you decide who will manage your business after you retire or the unexpected happens. A business succession plan can be designed to ensure that your business passes to a family member, employee, or business partner and continues after you retire, die, or become incapacitated. It can also be designed to ensure your business is sold to an external buyer in an orderly fashion. It all depends on what you want.

If you choose to sell, you can sell your business to a family member or another person. However, regardless of who you choose to sell your business to, you will need to make sure that they can manage the business or at least have plans of hiring someone capable of handling the business.

A business succession plan generally involves, among many other things, the following:

• Ensuring proper financial measures are in place to enable a smooth and orderly transition.
• Ensuring all necessary legal documents are to allow a smooth and orderly transition.
• Ensuring the next generation is ready to successfully run the business.

How Does Business Succession Planning Work?

Every business is different; therefore, before you can even begin the business succession planning process, a business succession lawyer will need to evaluate and understand every aspect of your business. A skilled business succession lawyer can work with you to address your wishes and concerns. However, regardless of your concerns and wishes, below are some of the things your business succession plan might include:

• A plan for transferring legal ownership of your business
• A plan on how to train the next generation of leaders
• Estate planning documents
• A plan for funding ownership transfer

Some of the steps involved in the business succession process include:

• Deciding on the right succession plan. For example, should you let a family member or third party take over your business?
• Choosing a business successor
• Preparing for the legal transfer of ownership
• Alignment of the succession plan with your estate plan

Your estate plan and business succession plan must be carefully coordinated. For example, your estate plan and business succession plan need to be coordinated in areas such as powers of attorney and incapacity plan. Aligning estate plans and business succession plans with one another can help minimize future conflict or litigation. A business succession lawyer can work with you to ensure your estate plan and business succession plan align.

Selecting Your Business Successor

Choosing a successor is a crucial part of the business succession planning process. Often, children and other family members take over family businesses. However, you can choose another person to take over your business. For example, you can choose a senior employee, a business partner, or even an external buyer.

Some of the things to consider when choosing a business successor include:

• Do they possess the right skills, necessary qualifications, and training?
• Is the person interested in the business and the success of the business?
• Does the person understand the business?
• Does the person have experience with the business?
• Does the person have existing relationships with long-term clients or key stakeholders?

Business owners need to avoid making the mistake of putting a family member in charge of their business, even if they are not qualified or interested in the business, just because they are a family member. If you leave your business to a family member, make sure you leave it with someone prepared to run the business. An experienced business succession lawyer can help you determine the best ways of preparing your business successor.

Business succession planning comes with many benefits. For example, business succession planning gives you the confidence that your business will fall in the right hands after you retire or the unexpected happens. Business succession planning makes the transition process easier. Additionally, a carefully thought-out business succession plan can ensure the future growth of your company. If you are like most of the small and medium-sized business owners out there, you probably have not started working on your business succession plan. Take the first step and call a Hamilton business succession lawyer at (856) 672-7248.