At its heart, estate planning is aimed at resolving one basic yet critical question: Who will become responsible for your family and their financial security when you are no longer here to be responsible yourself?
This is something of concern not only to the individual, though. A business, too, worries about its future. The owner faces a tough decision. Which individual, or group of individuals, would ensure a smooth transition and put the business in the best position to realize its myriad ambitions?
The correct answer is one that allows the company to stride onward without stumbling—that is, without squandering clients, losing referral sources, or generally letting fall the delicate curtain screening the chaos that is office management from public view. This can easily happen and sink a business with imprudent or nonexistent succession planning.
This is an issue that weighs even on me: whoever steps in after my eventual absence will need to be an attorney experienced in corporate and estate planning, one willing to market aggressively and efficiently, and one with a more agreeable bedside manner than that of [insert name of sociopathic doctor/lawyer character here]. To simply find a lawyer with just two of those traits is a challenge; finding one who meets all of my expectations is no small feat, and neither is it for any successful business owner.
Thus business transition planning, like estate planning, is simply too important to ignore or procrastinate on. In coming posts, we will break down some of the steps involved in crafting an effective business transition plan, along with a few helpful hints of how not to do it.
If you have questions, give us, or your neighborhood financial planner a call. If you don’t have a neighborhood financial planner, get one you trust. It will be the best move you ever make. If you need help finding one, give us a call. We’ll help you look. You can find out how to reach us at our website: TheFisherLawOffice.com. You can also find us at Facebook.com/FisherLawOffice, on Twitter @thefisherlawoffice, or at LinkedIn.com/in/FisherLawOffice.
As for transition planning, we won’t bury you with details here, but will continue the discussion in future postings. If you would like to keep updated subscribe to the blog so that you will receive additional suggestions.
Alternatively, you can just click here for Part II, Part III, and Part IV of our discussion on business succession strategy. Of course, the first step to creating such a successful strategy is subscribing to this blog (wink) so you’re kept apprised of further developments concerning Maryland business law, trusts, and estate planning.
As always, good luck and good hunting.