Business succession planning is the process of preparing for the future of your business. It’s important to plan ahead because if you don’t, it can be difficult to find someone who is qualified and willing to take over when you’re ready to retire or pass away.
Succession planning can help ensure that:
- Your employees are trained properly so they can take on new responsibilities as they become more involved in the company’s day-to-day operations.
- You have enough funds set aside so that you can pay off any debt before selling the business (or at least make sure there’s enough cash flow).
- Your clients don’t lose access to services because there isn’t anyone else available who knows how things work around here!
Why is Business Succession Planning Important?
Business succession planning is the process of preparing for the future of your business. It involves identifying and planning for events that could affect your company, such as death, disability or retirement. The goal of business succession planning is to ensure your company continues to thrive after you’re gone.
If you don’t have a plan in place, there’s no guarantee that your business will be able to continue without you. In fact, without a succession plan in place, at least 30% of small businesses fail within two years after an owner dies or retires. The more prepared you are with a succession plan in place before any event occurs–either sudden or gradual–the better equipped your company will be to weather any storm that comes it’s way.
Business Succession Planning: Who Is Involved?
The first step in business succession planning is identifying your key players–the people who will help carry out your wishes for the company after it’s been passed down to them. These people may include family members or long-time employees who have been with the company since its inception; they could also be non-family members who have been instrumental in building up the business over time (such as managers).
How Can an Attorney Help with Business Succession Planning?
If you’re a business owner, it’s important to have a plan for what will happen when you retire or pass away. The process of creating a customized succession plan can be difficult and confusing, but with the help of an experienced attorney, it can be much easier. Your lawyer will help you navigate the legal process, create an effective plan that meets all of your needs and goals, provide advice and guidance as needed throughout this process, and make sure that everything is in order before handing off control of your business. The following documents are necessary for business succession planning:
- Will: A will allows you to decide how your assets will be distributed after death and who will take care of your minor children if both parents die.
- Trusts. Trusts allow you to control how much money is available for the beneficiaries of a trust and when they can access it, which can help minimize taxes on inheritance distributions.
- Power of attorney (POA). A POA allows someone else to make financial decisions on behalf of another person when that person is unable to do so themselves due to illness or injury; this type of document should also include provisions regarding medical treatment decisions in case the principal becomes incapacitated by illness or accident while still living at home with family members who may not agree with their wishes regarding end-of-life care options.
No matter what your business is, succession planning is critical to its success. You don’t want to leave your employees without a job or your customers without the products they rely on, but you also don’t want to burden them with your business’s administration when you’re gone. An attorney from Silverman Law Office, PLLC can help you create a plan that ensures continuity, even if something happens to you unexpectedly.