Estate Planning When Not All of Your Kids are in the Family Business

Owning your own business can be a great endeavor that takes a lot of passion and drive. Many small business owners focus on the day-to-day management and growth of the business, rather than thinking about a time when he or she may not be in the business. This is a far too common mistake.  Future plans for your enterprise are even more important when one child works in the business but the others do not. Keeping the peace among your children after you are no longer able to participate in the business requires careful balancing of your estate plan. Read More

Rewarding Your Employees By Giving Them the Business

Retiring from your business can be a tough decision.  To ensure that what you have built continues on, there needs to be a plan for succession.  For some people, they have spent years grooming a child or other family member to take over, wanting the business to stay in the family.  Others look to sell to a third party for a quick way out that will also give them a nest egg for their next phase of life.  However, there is a third option–transferring the business to your employees. Read More

Tools to Help You Leave Words of Wisdom to the Next Generation

Your estate plan leaves your physical assets to your beneficiaries, and you can also use your estate plan to leave them some of the hard-won wisdom you’ve accumulated over your life. You can let your family and friends learn from your mistakes, and profit from your successes. There are many tools and options available to you to convey your property and words of wisdom to your heirs during your lifetime and after death. Read More

Exit Planning v. Estate Planning for Business Owners

Business owners are often focused on the growth and success of their businesses and sometimes don’t think about what they ultimately want to happen to their business during their lifetime and beyond. Exit planning and estate planning are used to help business owners define what they want to happen to their businesses in the future and create plans and documents to help ensure their stated objectives are achieved. Read More