“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
Warren Buffett
It is difficult to predict how death or disability will affect a business and its principals. Good business succession planning ensures that the business and its principals are properly prepared.
Why are Business Owners Different?
Prudent business owners take extra steps to fully protect themselves and their families for unexpected events. This is known as Business Succession Planning. It typically deals with a business owner dying or becoming incapacitated. However, it can also protect against various other events, such as an owner’s bankruptcy or retirement.
Business Succession Planning usually involves creating a Business Succession Agreement or ‘Buy-Sell’ Agreement (“BSA”).
A BSA is the best way to provide certainty and security for business owners and their families after an owner’s death or incapacity. Our lawyers can prepare a BSA in close cooperation with your accountant and your insurance advisor.
Buy-Sell Agreements are contracts between business-owners dealing with the death of an owner, or certain other ‘trigger events’.
The contract describes the transfer of assets and value belonging to the affected owner.
Our Buy-Sell Agreements avoid disputes and uncertainty between owners. We generally charge a fixed fee for Buy-Sell Agreements. We provide a streamlined, simple service.
A shareholder agreement typically sets out the roles and responsibilities of each owner in a small business. It avoids uncertainty and future conflict between owners.
These can be simple or complex documents. We work with you to figure out the right terms for your company and owners.
A unitholder agreement typically sets out the roles and responsibilities of each owner in a business or venture structured as a Unit Trust. It avoids uncertainty and future conflict between owners.
These can be simple or complex documents. We work with you to figure out the right terms for your stakeholders.
Modern farming is a business. Yet the transfer of farms from one generation to the next is notoriously old-fashioned and badly executed.
We can prepare agreements and documents – often including Wills and variations to Trust Deeds and company documents – to ensure that the transfer of farming interests is efficient, fair and orderly.