Business Succession Planning: Estate Planning Vehicles, Common Issues, Best Practices

There are few events in the life of a business that are as critical as replacing an owner. Without a firm succession plan in place, there is a high risk that the company will fail. Replacing an owner is not only stressful on the successor owner, but also the employees, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders in the business.

As advisers, there are several essential aspects involved in succession planning for a private business. We will be discussing estate planning vehicles, corporate matters, financial issues, and other items. This discussion will help you market to existing clients and prospective clients early on in the process, which will help yield better results for everyone. The panel in this webinar believes strongly in a cross-disciplinary approach in working with clients and developing a plan early on in the process.

Listen as our distinguished panel discusses the importance of a formal business succession plan, what terms to include in such a plan, and an estate planner's role in drafting it. The panel will also discuss best practices for estate planning counsel in maintaining the succession plan for executive-level employees, as well as other employees whose unexpected departure would disrupt the business.

1. Overview of succession planning and its importance
2. Discussion of how estate planning counsel can work to draft and maintain a business succession plan
3. Common types of succession planning vehicles
4. Common issues with succession planning
5. Best practices for maintaining and updating a formal business succession plan

The panel will review these and other relevant topics:

• Why is succession planning important for all businesses?
• What is an estate planner’s role in drafting and maintaining a business succession plan?
• What are the common types of succession planning vehicles?
• Which employees should be included in a company’s succession plan?
• How to build a collaboration cross-disciplinary approach to help in the succession plan and its implementation.
• Why is the process important?