February 13, 2018

When most people think of estate planning, they are looking at their individual opportunities available with putting together critical documents and strategies to protect them and their loved ones. The truth is however, that if you play a critical role in any business, you can also benefit from estate planning for the company. Without a proper plan in place, you’ll leave many difficult questions to be answered and problems that may arise if you need to suddenly exit the company or if something happens to you. There are five primary reasons why you need to consider the benefits of estate planning in your business. 

•   It helps ensure the longevity of your business so that your brand lasts well beyond your lifetime.
•   It minimizes your taxes since estate taxes can put significant financial problems in front of a business. Transferring business assets to your children is one such example.
•   It gives you the option of a buy/sell agreement. Estate panning allows you to use a buy/sell agreement that can be beneficial if you have multiple co-owners of a company. This means that they may be eligible to automatically purchase a deceased owner’s interest in the company and this can prevent unintended beneficiaries from accidentally becoming owners or key players in the business.
•   It allows your business to look forward towards the future. Estate planning allows you to look to the future of your business while you’re still around and maintain your message in years to come. Since no one knows what the future holds, estate planning for the business is important.
•   It generates a succession plan, if you want to include multiple components in your business succession plan, including strategies to keep the employee, outside directors that may be used to bring objectivity, support training and development of successors and the delegation of responsibility and authority to successors.

Schedule a consultation with an experienced estate planning lawyer to learn more