Family-Owned Businesses and Farms

Northern Michigan Business Planning Attorneys

If You Own a Family Business or Farm

chances are it represents your most valuable asset As such, it must be protected… today, and quite possibly, for future generations. Unfortunately, since your business or farm is so valuable, it is at risk from a number of threats, including lawsuits, creditors, accidents, divorce, downturns in the economy, taxes, long-term care costs, and more.

At Biddinger, Schrot & Rolando, PC, we can create a customized plan to protect your business or farm from threats like these and help ensure that you transition out of your operation on your terms when you are ready to do so.

Laying a Solid Foundation:

Choosing the right entity for your business or farm is extremely important. We have extensive experience in helping our clients select and create the entity that best fits their immediate needs and long-term goals. Here are some of the most common approaches:

Sole Proprietorship:

This is generally used by self-employed people who are not interested in formally organizing their business or farming operation. Sole proprietorships do not offer liability protection for businesses and farms.

Partnership:

Partnerships can be formal or informal agreements between individuals who want to work together and share both profits and losses. In a general partnership, all parties share profits, losses and liability. In a limited partnership, the partners contribute capital and share in profit or loss. However, the limited partner is not actively involved in business operations and has limited liability. Limited liability partnerships take it one step further to offer liability protection for all partners.

Corporation:

Corporations provide owners with many important benefits, including limited liability, the ability to issue shares of stock, and greater flexibility in ownership structure.

Limited Liability Company:

LLCs combine the flexibility of a partnership with the protection of limited liability provided by a Corporation. An LLC can also be easier to maintain than a corporation and provides exceptional liability protection if structured properly.

The Importance of Business Succession Planning:

The timing and manner of your exit is every bit as important as your formation plan in terms of how much you ultimately earn from your business or farm. If you want to pass your business or farm on to members of your family, you have to be sure that they are capable of running it and genuinely want to do so. Perhaps you want to sell your business or farm to your employees, or to an outside party. Whatever your succession goals, we have the experience to help you accomplish them.

If you own a family business or farm, we can design a comprehensive plan to protect it and, when you are ready to retire, transition out of it on your terms. We invite you to contact us to schedule a personal meeting with one of our Michigan business planning attorneys to discuss your unique needs and goals.