Succession Planning


Do you have your own business?  It's great, isn't it?  Making all those decisions.  Having to buy the staples and copier.  And your delightful relationship with your silent partner, the IRS.

Once all the euphoria of the above has passed, what's your succession plan?  How's the business going to pass along to other generations?  If you drop dead or are disabled, will your family have to clean up the mess?  If you are in a business with others, what's the succession look like?

Most business succession plans include some sort of buy-out.  Normally, no one really thinks about this after the initial attorney drafts it.  How would you fund the buy-out?  Are you going to sell business assets?  Are you going to run a business with someone's widow, child, or girlfriend?  Or, is their life insurance on the business owners to fund it?

Have I blogged on this before?  Yes.  Does it bear repeating? Yes.

If you are in a small business with others and can't answer my questions above, find the Operating Agreement and re-read it.  Don't let your failure to plan or your business partner's failure to plan punish your family upon your passing. 

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