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If you own a business, chances are it represents one of your most valuable assets. This means having a comprehensive estate plan depends upon having an effective business plan. To be truly effective, your business plan should help you earn the greatest possible return on your initial investment. It should also protect your family and the business entity itself. Additionally, it must allow for the possibility of extraordinary growth and success, as well as offer protection against operational problems or downturns in the overall economy. Finally, your plan must take into account the timing and manner of your exit from the business.
At the Estate Planning and Legacy Law Center, we have a wealth of experience helping business owners at start-up, at exit, and at every stage in between. Over the years, we have concluded that a collaborative approach results in the best business plans, which is why we welcome input from your company’s current financial advisors, attorneys and key managers.
Here are just a few of the business planning services we offer:
- 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
- Shareholder control agreements
- Voting agreements
- Buy-sell agreements
- Sales and disposition of businesses
- Dissolutions
- Succession planning
- Recapitalization
- Asset protection
Business Transition Planning
Your business exit strategy can be every bit as important as your overall business plan in determining how much money you ultimately earn from your business. When we develop your exit strategy, our goal is to allow you to retain ultimate control over how your business is managed while you are still in charge together with when you decide to transition it to members of your family. When contemplating a transaction with a third party, our focus turns toward maximizing the value of your business while minimizing your income tax exposure.
At the Estate Planning and Legacy Law Center, we will also show you ways to avoid the infighting and other problems that often accompany family owned businesses. This is particularly important for blended families and families where more than one person wants to run the business. In addition, we will design a transition plan that minimizes your exposure to income and estate taxes by exploring bifurcated ownership interests, installment sale transactions, grantor retained annuity trusts and more.
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