Business Succession Planning

One of the most challenging issues a family business owner faces is planning for the eventual relinquishment of their management of and ownership in the business. The best succession plans provide not only for the orderly transfer of management and ownership interests, but also avoid liquidation, needless expense, and unnecessary tax liability.

Among the issues that must be planned for in any business succession are: estate and income tax considerations; determinations of who should succeed in the business' ownership and management structure; when the actual interests in the business should be transferred; in what form the transferred interests in the business should be held; and how family members who are inactive in the business should be cared for.

At Atack & Penrose we understand these issues and have the experience to counsel our clients in creating the best strategy for the closely held business. Our planning includes the expertise to utilize both lifetime and postmortem transfers in order to retain flexibility in addressing the often-changing circumstances that affect both the business owner and their family. Our approach to business succession planning strategies include:

• Corporate Recapitalizations
• Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts
• Installment Sales to Grantor Trusts
• Family Owned Entities
• Tenancy In Common Agreements
• Employee Stock Ownership Plans

Through years of estate planning experience we have honed the ability to help our clients make informed decisions about the future succession of their business. We are positioned to provide expert counsel to not only help the family business owner succeed in achieving their own personal goals in the eventual business succession, but to also integrate that planning into the business owner's overall estate plan.