Raleigh Succession Planning Lawyer Providing Peace of Mind To Business Owners
If you own a business, you need a succession plan. The experienced Raleigh Succession Planning Attorney at NC Planning can help you create a custom plan that meets your needs.
A business succession plan is a document prepared in advance by a business owner that provides instructions for a change of business ownership. If you are a business owner in North Carolina, don’t wait until you retire to create a succession plan.
When Do You Need to Create A Business Succession Plan?
It’s never too early to create a succession plan. In fact, the earlier you create a plan, the better. That way, if the unexpected happens, your succession plan can offer directions, reduce confusion, and even keep your business alive.
As your operation grows, becomes more complex, and involves more people over time, so does your need for a clear and concise business succession plan. The right succession plan benefits everyone – the owner, the successor, the employees, and customers as well.
What Does a Business Succession Plan Provide?
A good business succession plan may name a new owner or it may provide instructions for the sale of the business to a co-owner, one or more employees, or an outside party.
Each succession plan is unique and tailored to the unique needs of the business. If you are a business owner, a succession planning lawyer at NC Planning can guide you through the process of putting a plan in place.
What Does a Business Succession Plan Achieve?
You should prepare in advance for the sale of your business, spell out your operating procedures in writing, and put all of your finances in order. NC Planning’s Corporate Counsel team has experience preparing succession plans for business owners across a number of different industries.
If you have no plan to sell your business, you may instead be selecting an heir to succeed you as the business owner. It’s one way to provide for your family if a time comes when you can’t, but arranging for an heir to succeed you entails its own complications.
Your succession plan can name the new owner of your business or it can divide the ownership. Passing your business to an heir will mean additional taxes, but an estate planning lawyer at NC planning can help you to keep that tax burden as low and as painless as possible.
What Are the Elements of an Effective Succession Plan?
There are several steps that you must take in order to create an effective succession plan. The keys to a good succession plan are:
- Determining your timeline: Your succession plan can go into effect on a particular date or in the event of your incapacity or death.
- Choosing your successor: If you are passing the business to one or more heirs rather than selling it, you’ll need to name the heir or heirs in the succession plan.
- Document in writing your standard operating procedures (SOPs): A succession plan works best when you spell out your standard operating procedures with an employee handbook, organizational chart, operations manual, or other appropriate documentation.
- Have the business valuated: To make sure that your business is sold for the full amount that it’s worth, you will need to have the business valuated accurately, and over time, you’ll need to have that valuation updated regularly.
- Be detailed about the ownership change: If you intend to sell your business, specify precisely how your successor will buy the business.
- Creating the business succession plan that’s right for you requires a good attorney’s help. You’ll come to appreciate an estate planning attorney’s advice, insights, and guidance as you move through the business succession planning process.
We Provide the Planning Services That Business Owners Trust
NC Planning provides trusted succession planning services to business owners in Raleigh and throughout the state of North Carolina. Have our legal team review your case, address your concerns, and help you reduce the paperwork burden – and the headaches – that business succession planning can entail.
We believe that quality legal services are integral to the success of any business. We provide our business clients with effective representation and offer affordable, creative legal solutions. We seek to understand your business aims and objectives in order to serve you effectively.
At NC Planning, our attorneys’ top priority is understanding your circumstances and helping you create the plan that meets your needs. To learn more, or to arrange an initial consultation, call NC Planning at (919) 568-3681 or use the contact form here on our website.
Our offices are located at 4801 Glenwood Avenue, Suite 200, in Raleigh. NC Planning also has offices in Cary at 5640 Dillard Drive, Suite 101. It’s never too early to start planning for tomorrow. A Raleigh business planning attorney at NC Planning can help.
