Estate planning with your business partner is a good idea
On behalf of Kadish & Associates Law Group posted in Estate Planning For Business Owners on Friday, August 18, 2017.
Some people view estate planning as something that happens among members of families. However, Phoenix estate planning lawyers for business owners are in high demand as people who own businesses seek to be prepared for contingencies like a business partner dying.
If that happens, and you are not prepared, the continuation of the business will be in jeopardy along with your livelihood. Because of that, if you are a business owner in Phoenix, you will want to look at some key considerations in concert with your attorney.
First, you should determine what would happen to the business if your partner died suddenly, for example, in an accident. Would you or someone else who works for the company be able to take of all of the deceased person’s duties? Would you be able to access the things that they were in charge of, like client lists, sales information and computer passwords?
Additionally, you’ll want to consider how the loss of your business partner could affect the business going forward. For example, your business partner may have had direct professional relationships with clients that were critical to the prosperity that you do not have.
Of course, a very key consideration is what your business partner’s heirs would want to do with his or her share of the business. Would they want to sell it to you? Would they want to sell it to someone else with whom you would be incompatible? Would they want to run the business with you, or sell off parts of it to compensate them for their stake?
All of those questions can be addressed if you and your business partner meet with estate planning lawyers while you are both still alive. In that meeting, you can make plans together for what would be done if either of you died before the other. That can give you a lot of security and the ability to enjoy a prosperous professional relationship that is based on clear mutual understandings.
Source: New York Life, “What if your business partner died tonight?,” accessed Aug. 18, 2017