Family owned businesses are often passed down through the generations. Keeping your company’s tradition alive is your obligation to the next generation, your chance to create your legacy, and your chance to help build a stronger community as your business can provide valuable products and services.
German Law can help family owned businesses owners to maximize the chances of their company’s success, both during the lifetime of the current owner and for many generations into the future.
There are many legal tools you can use to protect your company but you need to understand which tools are right for you and how to use them as effectively as possible. If your company is in North Dakota or Minnesota, we can help you. Give us a call today to get personalized advice and answers to questions you have including:
- How can I protect my family business during my lifetime?
- How can I pass my family owned business onto the next generation?
- How can a lawyer help my family business in North Dakota or Minnesota?
How can I Protect My Family Business During my Lifetime?
It is important to both ensure your personal assets are not at risk due to your business and to ensure that you do everything you can to protect your company.
Personal assets can be kept safe through choosing the right business structure, such as incorporation, which will limit your potential liability if the business goes bankrupt or is sued. Protecting the company can be a little more complicated, as there may be many potential risks that could impact effective ongoing operations.
You need a plan for your company to become and remain profitable. You need to ensure all contracts are read carefully and that you understand labor laws so you do not inadvertently find yourself the defendant in a lawsuit. Compliance with all regulations is vital to avoid fines and penalties, and you need the right types of contracts in place to ensure all co-owners know their rights and obligations. German Law can help you to understand how the laws apply to your business and how you can work effectively within them.
You also must ensure you don’t lose your company in case of incapacity or illness. This means making a plan for who will take over in case something happens to you and taking steps to ensure you will never have to sell business assets if you need nursing home care that is not covered by Medicare or private insurance. There are tools you can use to achieve these goals, and Zimmer Law Firm will help you to create and carry forth a plan to keep your company safe.
How Can I Pass my Family Owned Business Onto the Next Generation?
It is vital that you make a business succession plan so you can pass your family owned company on to the next generation. Making a plan will ensure the timely transfer of the ownership of the company so there is no period of delay or uncertainty over who should take ownership.
Mismanagement in the confusion that can occur after a death or departure of a company owner causes many companies to lose value and some businesses even shut their doors because of this. You can make a plan so company ownership transfers quickly outside of the probate process after you pass away.
You also want to have a plan so the ownership of your company does not trigger estate tax that your heirs or beneficiaries cannot pay. Estate tax is charged on larger estates, but sometimes business assets or an interest in a business will push the estate above the excludable limits and trigger estate tax.
If estate tax is owed, this could be a major problem if there are not enough liquid assets to pay the tax bill. Company owners often have much of their wealth tied up in their companies. Without money to pay estate tax, selling the business or liquidating some of its assets could end up being the only option available to those who inherit. It is tragic when a company cannot stay in a family for generations because of tax issues, especially when those issues can be avoided though the creation of a business succession plan.
How can a Lawyer Help my Family Owned Business in North Dakota or Minnesota?
German Law has extensive experience helping companies in Minnesota and North Dakota to make the law work to provide protections for family companies. We can help you to make plans for the future, to minimize risk through effective use of legal tools, and to use the right process to pass your company down to the next generation. To find out more about the help that we can offer, give us a call today.
