Santa Clara County Business Owners: Five Benefits that Estate Planning Can Provide You

Creating and building a successful business in Santa Clara County is incredibly difficult and maintaining that success is just as challenging. You hire accountants and lawyers to make sure you are protected from those who seek to take away what you have worked so hard to achieve, but are you protected from those that will seek to capitalize on your death or inability to maintain your business? Are you protected from the government that will try to take their share of your business through the estate tax? Are you protected from family members, ex-spouses, or co-owners that will try to take their piece as well? If you are not, the business that you started from the ground up could collapse if and when something happens to you.

Here are just a few protections that simple estate planning in Santa Clara can provide for business owners.

1. You can easily deal with a future transition to co-owners

If your business has more than one owner, an estate plan will allow you to specify your wishes to sell your portion to the co-owners rather than to burden your heirs who may not want a role in operating the business. With a buy-sell agreement your business partners would agree to buy out your share of the business upon death. If your heirs are not in a position to become responsible business owners, this may be your best option so that your business is not impacted by your death.

2. It guarantees that your business will survive without you

Estate planning can ensure that the brand you have worked so hard to create will survive long after your death. Some of the biggest companies in America started off as family businesses but many more failed to survive the transition to the second or third generation because of poor planning on the part of the original business owner.

3. It minimizes your tax expenses

By creating trusts, corporate entities, and other legal planning, you can pass along your business assets safely to your heirs while minimizing the amount of taxes and fees that will be owed after your passing. Without such advanced planning, your business may be subject to unnecessary costs that could force the premature sale or liquidation of company assets in the event of your incapacity or death.

4. You can create a succession plan for your business

As a successful business owner you know what it takes to run your operations day in and day out. You have also witnessed many businesses around you fail because the transition to a next generation family member or new owner was not the savviest or most capable choice. With a proper succession plan, however, you can be assured that your business is in the right hands by legally selecting whom you want to be at the helm of your operations when you are unable to run your company or simply ready to retire.

5. You can plan for the future

With an estate plan in place, you can plan for the future with the assurance that your business will be successful long after you are gone. You can set long term plans and goals knowing these goals will be achieved and your business will continue to thrive.

Estate planning in Santa Clara allows forward-thinking entrepreneurs to ensure that their business will be protected and will continue to prosper long after they are gone. Avoid the pitfalls that many businesses succumb to when their owner is no longer able to operate the business. Contact our Santa Clara business and estate lawyers today to schedule a consultation.