When Business Ownership Figures Into Estate Planning
A business succession plan can have a significant impact on the health of a business as well as on business owners’ overall estate plans. In the case of a sole proprietorship or a partnership, business assets are owners’ assets. To maximize the effectiveness of a business succession plan, an owner or owners should coordinate succession plans with their wills, trusts or other strategies for eventually passing on assets.
Delzer, Coulter & Bell, P.A., in Port Richey, has 60 years’ experience guiding clients in Pasco County and beyond through estate planning, with an emphasis on efficiency, economy and customization. We do not view estate planning from a one-size-fits-all vantage point. Rather, we take into account our Florida clients’ goals and resources as we help them create and manage estate plans for business owners and others.
The Making Of A Business Succession Plan
Ideally, entrepreneurs should include business succession planning in their initial business plans. When this occurs, business owners can intentionally choose successors, develop training programs, set timetables, plan for their own eventual retirement and execute their succession plans with optimal timing. Long-range planning of this nature can be an essential building block for the success of a business.
Depending on many factors, business succession plans may involve strategies such as these:
- Selling of the original business owner’s interests to partners or shareholders at a predetermined or to-be-determined time
- Transferring owners’ business interests with buy-sell agreements to be triggered by events such as retirement, divorce, disability or death
- Creating an irrevocable trust to which an owner would transfer assets while still drawing income (and at death, assets would transfer to other stakeholders)
- Selling business assets to partners or others in exchange for private annuities providing income to the seller for life, while avoiding gift or estate taxes
- Establishing self-canceling installment promissory notes by which a buyer would make payments, with payments ending upon the seller’s death
- Establishing a family limited partnership, with business interests to be gifted to family members over time
Discuss Your Estate Plan And Your Business Succession Plan With An Experienced Lawyer
To schedule a consultation, call 727-361-2894 or send an email inquiry. Request a consultation on these and other estate-related matters such as probate and estate administration involving business assets.