Planning for Transfer of your Business

A critical component of any Estate Plan when a business is an asset of the
Estate, whether or not Trust based planning is done or not, is a plan to transfer
the management and assets of the business. This may occur during the lifetime
of the owner or owners, upon disability, or at death.

We call this Business Succession Planning.

Without such planning the entire estate plan can fail. The value of a business can
drop drastically when the principal owners and/or managers are no longer around
or involved. Infighting is not uncommon in such situations. Everything that the
original owners have worked for can disappear quickly.

We have helped many families with businesses develop and implement plans for
the orderly and successful transfer of the business to succeeding generations.
This helps maintain and enhance the value of the business, and can prevent
family discord.

Many times the use of Life Insurance is involved to help "fund" the transfer of the
business, or to equalize the distributions to family members who are not involved
in the business. There are many creative ways to use Insurance in these
situations.

There are commonly tax considerations involved as well. These can be critical,
"high stakes" decisions that will affect the business owner's family for
generations.

We would appreciate the opportunity to help you. Let us know what we can do.

Missouri Estate Planning

(816) 628-4900

Attorney at Law

Richard J. Herndon