You may have gone to the trouble of setting your business up correctly and you may have the expertise and connections to run it effectively but have you thought about how you would want to pass it on in the future or what would happen to it if anything went wrong?
People plan for certain events in their personal lives by setting up Wills, Trusts and Powers of Attorney but these documents can be just as useful when it comes to running a business.
There may come a time when you want to hand over the reins of your business to someone else - a friend or family member or a trusted colleague. This can be done in a number of ways and how you do it will have a number of implications. You may want to hand it over while you are alive in such a way as to save tax or so as to retain some control. For this, some sort of Trust may be useful. You may want to hand it over on death and if this is the case, then you will need to make a Will.
A Will can not only make sure your business ends up where you want it to end up but it can also do it in a tax efficient way, it can include powers for your executors to continue running it effectively during the probate process and it can give rights such as options to purchase. It may be that circumstances are less under your control - an accident or serious illness may occur, you may get divorced or even die unexpectedly. And even if these things do not happen to you, they could happen to your business partner or a fellow shareholder. In these circumstances, disaster for your business could be averted if you had planned ahead.
We have already seen above that Trusts can be used for tax saving or continued control - they can also be used as protective wrappers, perhaps in divorce or bankruptcy situations. With a Power of Attorney, you can appoint a trusted person to carry out some or all of your roles in your business, either temporarily or permanently if required. And a Will can be made early on and updated as your business develops so that your wishes are covered in case of the unexpected. It can also be tied in with protective insurance policies.
You put a lot of time and effort into your business and so protecting it with documents such as these is just as important as setting up a partnership or shareholders' agreement, so give us a call if protecting your business is important to you and we can introduce you to an Associate with all the skills and expertise to ensure that your aims are met.