In the fast-paced world of owning a business, it’s easy to overlook the future implications of not having a solid estate plan. After all, when you’re busy growing and managing your business, thinking about what happens when you’re no longer around feels a little morbid. However, neglecting this crucial aspect can have serious consequences.
Business owners understand the need to make tough choices. Hiring and firing, setting the price of goods and services, identifying solid investments while minimizing risk, etc.
Business owners make difficult decisions daily to keep their businesses profitable and employees productive. While many remain focused on the day-to-day operations of their business, too few take the time to consider what happens next.
Many businesses won’t survive as they pass from generation to generation. Estimates are that 70% of businesses will fail as they pass from the first generation to the second. Business succession planning is much more than just drafting a will. Business succession planning needs to be a comprehensive process that allows you to direct the future control of the business, ensure the financial security of your loved ones, minimize potential tax burdens, and safeguard the continuity of your business.
Business succession planning could determine that a family’s best plan is to sell the business instead of passing the ownership to the next generation. It may be best to sell the business while the value is high if no one in the next generation is capable of continuing the businesses success, or if no one in the next generation is interested in continuing the business. Selling the business may actually maximize the wealth it represents. A proper business succession plan can mean the difference between leaving your successors with a solid platform to build upon or a host of complications to untangle.
Continue reading to discover the reasons for estate planning, what business owners should consider during the process, and what it can mean for securing their wealth.
The Basics of Business Succession Planning
As a business owner, estate planning takes on another layer of complexity. It’s not just about planning for your personal assets but also about what happens to your business after your death or retirement. You need to have a well-developed exit strategy – how will the business continue to be successful and provide wealth for your family when you are no longer involved, either due to retirement or death.
Estate planning and business succession planning for business owners involves developing a strategy that ensures the smooth transition of their business control and ownership, minimizes potential disputes among heirs and surviving business partners, and provides financial security for their families.
Just like personal estate planning, business succession and estate planning may involve creating trusts to hold and protect the business ownership for the family, but also include a buy-sell agreement, planning for leadership and ownership succession, and assessing the impact of estate taxes on the continued operation of the business and the owner’s personal assets.
While estate planning aims to protect and manage personal assets and provide for loved ones, business succession planning focuses more on the continuity of the business, the wealth it represents to the family, its leadership, and its ownership, making both indispensable components of a business owner’s comprehensive financial plan.
Business Continuity
Without proper estate planning and business succession planning, your business could face potentially devastating interruptions and may not survive for the next generation. This is especially true for family-owned businesses, where the lack of a succession plan can lead to confusion, conflict and ultimately failure.
The lack of a plan could even result in the business failing and losing all its value, leaving the family with little or nothing. A clear business succession plan helps ensure the smooth transition of ownership, management and control, keeping your business successful even in your absence.
Providing for Loved Ones
Estate planning is about protecting your loved ones and providing for their future. Your business may represent the largest portion of your family’s wealth. By having a clear strategy and plan for the distribution of your business, ownership and control you can ensure that the business can continue to provide wealth for your family.
Wealth can change over time, and occasionally the best course for protecting your wealth for future generations may require selling a business. Selling a business generates wealth that will ensure your family remains taken care of while relieving them of the obligation to successfully run a business. Outlining whether your business should pass on or be sold in an estate plan can help you to protect your wealth better as it passes on to the next generation.
Without an estate plan, people outside the family could end up with some or all of your wealth. This includes a new spouse, children of a former spouse, and creditors. Your family might have to unnecessarily pay additional taxes, which an estate plan could have prevented.
Minimizing Tax Burden
The tax implications of transferring business ownership can be significant. Proper estate planning can help minimize estate taxes and avoid a scenario where the business or other family assets must be sold to cover tax liabilities.
Avoiding Probate
Probate is the legal process of administering your estate after death. It can be a lengthy, costly, and public process. Well-structured estate planning, particularly involving trusts, can help bypass probate, ensuring that assets are distributed more efficiently and discreetly.
Preventing Disputes
Without an estate plan, potential disputes can arise among surviving family members regarding the division of assets, including your business. By detailing your wishes in your estate plan, you can help prevent future conflicts and ensure that your intentions are honored.
While you may want all family members to benefit from the wealth the business created, not everyone needs to have a voice in the business decisions and how it is managed. It may be better to have only a small group of family members with the controlling authority. One solution is to create two classes of ownership for the business – voting and non-voting. The family members with voting ownership have the decision-making authority. The family members with non-voting ownership cannot participate in the decision-making but do receive wealth from the businesses success.
Business succession estate planning is not a task to be deferred until retirement. Whether you’re a sole proprietor or a partner in a large enterprise, it’s an essential aspect of business planning that should be addressed early and updated regularly. By preparing for the inevitable, you secure your business’s future and provide peace of mind for yourself and your loved ones.
The Elements of a Comprehensive Business Succession Estate Plan
Estate planning for business owners is multi-faceted, extending beyond personal asset distribution. It incorporates the sustainability of the business and the impact of this transition on all involved parties. There are two critical components of effective business estate planning:
- Developing the Business Succession Plan: The business succession plan involves making decisions as to who takes over the business ownership and also the business leadership and ownership when you retire, become incapacitated, or pass away. It should provide a clear roadmap for the future of the business, including identifying potential successors, setting out how the transition will happen, and establishing the value of the business for buy-sell agreements.
- Creating the Documents to Make the Plan Happen:
- Wills. A will is a legal document that outlines your wishes regarding the distribution of your assets, including who will inherit these assets after your death. It’s essential to ensure that your business interests are included in your will and that you specify your intended beneficiaries.
- Trusts. Trusts are one of the main documents used in a business succession planning. Trusts are legal entities that hold assets for the benefit of others. They can be the most essential document in estate planning for several reasons. There are different types of trusts with different purposes. For instance, trusts can bypass probate, ensure privacy, and manage the controlled distribution of assets. There are many types of trusts that can be used in business succession planning. Some trusts are designed to pass wealth from one generation to the next in a way that excludes non-family members. Other trusts are designed to protect from claims by creditors, and other trusts are designed to minimize estate taxes. It may be that some combination of different trusts are used together in the business succession plan.
- Power of Attorney (POA). A POA designates an individual to make decisions on your behalf should you become incapacitated. In business, a POA can entrust an individual to manage business operations, make vital decisions, and access financial accounts.
- Life insurance. Life insurance is critical in an estate plan, providing immediate cash flow to cover debts, ongoing living expenses, or estate taxes. It can also be structured for business owners to fund a buy-sell agreement.
- Buy-Sell agreements. A buy-sell agreement is a legally binding contract between business partners that outlines the terms and conditions under which a partner’s share of a business may be reassigned if that partner dies or otherwise leaves the business.
Every business owner’s situation is unique, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to estate planning. Our legal professionals at MHPS will work with you to develop a comprehensive and customized plan that meets your needs.
Securing Your Wealth
At MHPS, we guide business owners like you through the intricacies of business succession planning. With our wealth of expertise, we can help design and implement a tailor-made succession plan that ensures the continuity of your business and secures your family’s future. Whether you need assistance establishing trusts or setting up an effective succession strategy, our legal experts are here to help.
Contact our team at MHPS today and let us help you chart a clear course for the longevity of your business and the security of your loved ones. Remember, we’re not just planning for your business; we’re planning for your legacy.
