Ownership questions come up when a business changes: a partner wants out, a new one wants in, an owner dies or divorces, or the owners stop agreeing. Most of these can be handled on paper if the paper exists. The firm writes it before the change and works through it when the change comes.
Buy-sell agreements
A buy-sell agreement says what happens to an owner’s interest on death, disability, divorce, retirement, or a falling-out: who can buy it, at what price, and how it is paid. Life insurance often funds the purchase. The firm drafts new agreements and updates old ones whose valuation formulas no longer match the business.
Bringing in or buying out a partner
Admitting a new owner means amending the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, deciding what the new owner pays and contributes, and updating the buy-sell terms. Buying out a departing owner means agreeing on a price, a payment schedule, and what the departing owner may and may not do afterward.
Disagreements between owners
When owners disagree about direction, money, or effort, the first step is what the agreement already says. The firm advises owners on their rights under the documents and negotiates a separation when staying together no longer works.
Corporate governance
Bylaws and operating agreements, board and shareholder actions, minutes and consents, and the records a company needs to show that decisions were made properly. Good governance is what a buyer, an investor, or a court will look for later.
Transferring ownership
Gifts to family members, sales to employees, and transfers into trusts each have their own paperwork and tax questions. Family transfers are covered in more depth under Family Business Succession.
Contact the office to review an ownership agreement or a change in owners.