If you are running a business, it’s easy to give estate planning less priority than your other business matters. After all, if you’re facing challenges meeting next month’s payroll or your goals for growth over the coming quarter, concerns over your potential incapacity or death can seem far less urgent.

But the reality is considering what would happen to your business in the event of your incapacity or when you die is one of your most pressing responsibilities as a business owner. Although estate planning and business planning may seem like two separate tasks, they’re actually inexorably linked. And given that your business is likely your family’s most valuable asset, estate planning is crucial not only for your company’s continued success, but also for your loved one’s future well being.

Without a proper estate plan, your team, clients, and family could face dire consequences if something should happen to you. Yet these dangers can be fairly easily mitigated using a few basic estate planning strategies. To demonstrate why proper estate planning is so important for business owners, here are four issues your company and family are likely to encounter as a result of poor estate planning, along with the corresponding estate planning solutions you can use to prevent and/or mitigate those issues.   

Issue #1: If your estate plan consists of only a will, your estate—including your business and its assets—must go through probate when you die. 

When it comes to creating an estate plan, most people typically think of a will. While it’s possible to leave your business to someone in your will, it’s far from the ideal option. That’s because upon your death, all assets passed through a will must first go through the court process known as probate.

During probate, the court oversees your will’s administration to ensure your assets (including your business) are distributed according to your wishes. But probate can take months, or even years, to complete, and it can also be quite expensive, which can seriously disrupt your operation and its cash flow. What’s more, probate is a public process, potentially leaving your business affairs open to your competitors.

Plus, while your family and team may know how to run your company without you, they might be unable to access vital assets, such as financial accounts, until probate is concluded. Moreover, even if they can access all of the needed assets, the legal fees charged by the lawyers your family will likely have to hire to help them navigate probate can quickly deplete your company’s coffers.

And this is all assuming your will isn’t disputed during probate, which is also a real possibility, especially with a highly profitable business at stake. If your heirs disagree about whom you name to control your business and/or how the business assets should be divided, a vicious court battle can ensue and drag on for years, dividing your family and crippling your company.

Estate Planning Solution: Given the drawbacks associated with a will, a much better way to ensure your business’s continued success following your death is by placing your company in a trust: either a revocable living trust, an irrevocable trust, or some combination of the two. A trust is not required to go through probate, and all assets placed within the trust are immediately transferred to the person, or persons, of your choice in the event of your death or incapacity.

When you die, having your business held in trust would allow for the smooth transition of control of your company, without the time and expense associated with probate. Plus, trusts are not open to the public, so your company’s internal affairs would remain private, and the transfer of ownership can take place in your lawyer’s office, not a courtroom. Finally, trusts, especially irrevocable trusts, can help shield your business and its assets from creditors and lawsuits, which could threaten your company with you out of the picture.

Issue #2: If you become incapacitated by illness or injury and you haven’t legally named someone to manage your business assets, the court will choose someone for you.

Another issue with relying solely on a will is that a will only goes into effect when you die and offers no protection for your business if you’re incapacitated by accident or illness. With just a will—or no estate plan at all—the court will appoint a financial guardian or conservator to assume control of your business until you recover.

Like probate, the court process associated with guardianship can be long and costly. And whether the guardian is a family member, employee, or outside professional, it’s doubtful that individual would run your business exactly how you would want them to, and this can seriously disrupt your operation. Not to mention, having a court-appointed guardian managing your business affairs can lead to serious conflicts and strife within both your team and family, particularly if you’re out for a lengthy period.

Estate Planning Solution: One estate planning vehicle that can prevent this is a durable financial power of attorney. A durable financial power of attorney allows you to name the person you would want to run your business and handle all of your other financial affairs if you ever become unable to do so yourself. If you’re sidelined by illness or injury, this person will be granted legal authority to handle your business affairs, such as managing payroll, signing documents, and making financial decisions. 

This not only speeds the expense and delay associated with the guardianship process, but it also ensures that while you are incapacitated, your company and other financial interests will be managed by someone you trust, rather than relying on the court to choose someone for you.

Though again, most ideally having a trust and a named Trustee, would allow your business to be operated in the event of your incapacity, without the necessity for any court process at all. 

Issue #3: If your business partner dies and you don’t have a legal agreement that allows you to purchase your partner’s share of ownership in your company, along with a source of liquidity to fund that purchase, you could find yourself in business with your partner’s heirs. 

If you share ownership of your business with one or more other people, it’s crucial that you have a legally binding plan in place designating what would happen to each partner’s ownership interests should one of you leave the company, get divorced, die, or become incapaciated. Without such a plan in place, along with the funds needed to execute that plan, all sorts of potential problems and conflicts can arise.

For example, should your partner die without such a plan in place and the partner’s children inherit his share of ownership in your business, you could find yourself in business with your partner’s kids or be forced to pay an inflated price for their share of the business. A similar situation could arise should your partner get divorced and your partner’s former spouse is awarded a share of the company in the divorce settlement.

Estate Planning Solution: To prevent such conflicts, you should create a buy-sell agreement. A buy-sell agreement outlines exactly what would happen to your business in the event an owner leaves the company for any number of reasons, or when one of the owners die, becomes incapacitated, or gets divorced. 

For example, a buy-sell agreement can ensure that should certain triggering events occur—like a partner’s retirement, death, or permanent incapacity—the remaining owners are able to purchase that partner’s share of the business. In this way, an effective buy-sell agreement can prevent you from having to deal with new partners you didn’t count on. At the same time, a buy-sell can help prevent your loved ones from getting stuck owning a business they don’t want and can’t sell.

In addition to having a buy-sell agreement in place, you will also need to have a source of funding that allows the surviving owners to buy out the deceased partner’s shares. In most cases, the best way to fund your buy-sell is by purchasing life insurance. For example, the company can purchase a life insurance policy on each of the owners, and the company would receive the death benefit to purchase the deceased owner’s share of the business and/or buy out the deceased’s heirs.

Issue #4: If you name a family member to run your company after your death and you don’t provide them with a detailed plan, your business can be ruined by just a few poor decisions.

There are countless stories of family members assuming control of multi-million-dollar businesses and running things into the ground in just a short span of time. And if such massive fortunes can be squandered so easily, it’s seriously doubtful that smaller operations like yours will fare much better.

Even if your successor doesn’t destroy your company, he or she can cause serious conflicts among your staff, clients, and family simply by managing the business radically differently than you. For this reason, simply naming a successor to take the reins in your absence is not enough.

Estate Planning Solution: A comprehensive business succession plan can help ensure your company doesn’t fall apart when you pass on. Beyond simply naming a successor, such plans provide stability and security by allowing you to lay out detailed instructions for how the company should be run.

From specifying how ownership should be transferred and providing rules for compensation and promotions to establishing dispute resolution procedures, an effective succession plan can provide the new owner with a roadmap for your company’s continued success following your death or retirement.

Secure Your Business, Your Legacy, and Your Family’s Future

If you haven’t taken the time to create a proper estate plan, your business is missing one of its most essential components. During our Life & Legacy Planning Process, as your Personal Family Lawyer®, we will work with you to create a comprehensive estate plan to ensure the company and wealth you’ve worked so hard to build will survive—and thrive—no matter what happens to you.

Furthermore, every estate plan we create has built-in legacy planning services, which can greatly facilitate your ability to preserve and communicate your most treasured values, insights, stories, and mementos with the loved ones you’re leaving behind. By working with us, you can rest assured that your business and legacy will offer the maximum benefit for the people you love most. 

You see, we’ve discovered that estate planning is about far more than planning for your death and passing on your “estate” to your loved ones—it’s about planning for a life you love and a legacy worth leaving by the choices you make today—and this is why we call our services Life & Legacy Planning. Contact us today to get started with a Family Wealth Planning Session.

This article is a service of Sahmra A Stevenson, Personal Family Lawyer®. We do not just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session™, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $450 session at no charge.

When you are just starting your business, it’s easy to lose sight of just how many potential risks your company faces. Yet a single accident or lawsuit can wipe out your company before it even has the chance to get off the ground. While setting up a business entity like a limited liability company (LLC) or corporation can protect your personal assets from liabilities incurred by your business, it won’t protect your business assets—that’s where business insurance comes in. 

You can’t protect your business 100% from every single threat, but you can greatly improve your chances of surviving by having the proper insurance coverage in place. That said, there are many types of business insurance out there, and some policies can be extraordinarily expensive, so it’s critical to know the specific risks your company faces and what types of insurance will best cover those risks.

Outside of mandatory coverage, such as worker’s compensation, there are several types of insurance that practically every new business owner should invest in. Depending on whether you have employees, use office space, provide services, or manufacture products, you’ll likely need some or all of the following policies.

General Liability Insurance

All businesses need general liability insurance, which covers lawsuits initiated by third parties (non-employees) for bodily injuries and/or property damage that are directly or indirectly related to your business. It’s important to note that such coverage—and indeed most coverage listed here—is needed even if you aren’t at fault. Keep in mind anyone can sue you for anything, and the lawyer’s fees can cripple your business, even if you win the case. The right insurance will cover your legal fees.

Commercial Property Insurance
Regardless whether you own or lease your office space, property insurance is a must. Such policies cover damage to equipment, furniture, and signage from events like fires, storms, and theft. Some natural disasters, like floods and earthquakes, may not be covered, so be sure to check with your agent to add additional coverage if you live in a disaster-prone region.

Professional Liability/ Malpractice Insurance
Also known as errors and omission insurance, this covers lawsuits alleging your professional services caused a client to suffer damages, arising from actions like negligence, mistakes, and violation of contract. Such coverage can be essential for a wide range of businesses—accountants, lawyers, real-estate agents, consultants, IT firms, and others. Check with us, your Family Business Lawyer™  to find out if you should have such coverage.

Vehicle Insurance

If your employees use a company-owned vehicle to conduct business, those vehicles  should have comprehensive commercial auto insurance to protect against liability as well as any injury/damage to your employees, vehicles, products, and equipment. If your employees use their own vehicles, their personal insurance often covers them. But it’s a good idea to purchase “non-owned auto liability coverage” in case an employee fails to renew their insurance or has inadequate coverage.

Employment Practices Insurance
This type of policy provides protection for lawsuits initiated by your employees. While this is an often-overlooked coverage, it’s actually one of the most important, since employment claims are the most serious threat to your business, even if you think you are the best boss on the block. In fact, studies show that nearly one in every five small businesses will get sued by a team member at some point in their lifecycle.

Cyber Insurance

From websites and social media to e-newsletters and mobile apps, virtually every business has a digital presence of some type. Cyber insurance protects against damages from threats to your computer systems and databases, such as data breaches, hacking, and network failures. If your data is lost, stolen, or compromised, the cost to recover and restore this information can be exorbitant. Such coverage also protects you from lawsuits by customers, vendors, and others whose data is stolen from your system. It can also cover the cost of notifying affected parties of a breach, which is typically required by law; paying regulatory fines; as well covering lawyer fees, judgments, and settlement costs resulting from a lawsuit.

Umbrella Insurance
Umbrella insurance offers an extra layer of coverage which would pay for any claims that exceed the payout limit of your other policies. Note that umbrella insurance is not offered as stand-alone coverage, and you must first have an appropriate underlying policy in place to qualify for it. In fact, you may not qualify for umbrella insurance if your underlying policy doesn’t offer high-enough payout limits.

Get Your Startup Covered Today

Every business has its own unique risks and assets, so there’s no way to know exactly what coverage your company needs without an evaluation. Before you sit down with an insurance agent, meet with us, your Family Business Lawyer™ for an insurance audit.

We can support you by evaluating the specific risks your company faces at each stage of growth to determine exactly what kind of insurance you need and what levels of coverage will best protect your business assets both now and in the future. Contact us, your local Family Business Lawyer™ today to get started.

This article is a service of Sahmra A Stevenson, Family Business Lawyer™. We offer a complete spectrum of legal services for businesses and can help you make the wisest choices on how to deal with your business throughout life and in the event of your death. We also offer a LIFT Start-Up Session™ or a LIFT Audit for an ongoing business, which includes a review of all the legal, financial, and tax systems you need for your business. Call us today to schedule. 

Although cash is the lifeblood that sustains every business, far too many business owners fail to properly manage their cash flow. And this is despite the fact that statistics consistently show that running out of money is one of the main reasons new businesses go under.

Trying to run a business without carefully managing your cash flow is like fighting a rising tide: Sooner or later you’re going to find yourself underwater. And even if your business generates healthy revenue, you can still experience the occasional cash crunch—which is especially true during your first few years of operation.

To avoid joining the ranks of bankrupt startups, get smart about boosting your cash flow by implementing these 5 strategies.

1. Get Professional Support

To save money, lots of new business owners try to manage their books on their own, but this is a major mistake. Managing cash flow is too time consuming, complex, and critical to your company’s survival for you to fit it in with all of your other responsibilities. In fact, the very first team member you hire should be a professional bookkeeper/financial manager.

Effective cash-flow management is the foundation upon which all of your company’s financial and tax strategies are built, and it needs to be done properly from the very beginning. With this in mind, even if you’ve yet to earn any revenue, you should consider paying for a bookkeeper out of your own pocket. 

Hiring a highly experienced bookkeeper with whom you can build a tight relationship might require an investment of time and money upfront, but the ultimate payoff in terms of your financial strategy and tax savings will more than make up for the initial effort and expense. 

If you need support in finding the right bookkeeper, work with us, your Family Business Lawyer™ for guidance. We can refer you to bookkeeping professionals in our area we trust most to ensure your company has the proper financial oversight from the start.

 2. Implement Financial Systems

Above all, effective cash-flow management requires sound systems. If your company’s financial systems and processes aren’t set up the right way from the start, even a skilled bookkeeper isn’t going to magically fix them.

As your Family Business Lawyer™, we  specialize in supporting startups to set up effective financial systems. We will help you put the proper systems in place to manage your cash flow and ensure your company has a rock-solid financial foundation that won’t suddenly collapse when the going gets rough. 

3. Closely Monitor Accounts Receivable

Many startups experience negative cash flow simply because they don’t stay on top of accounts receivable. You must ensure that your customers pay you on time and in full. Accounts receivable that go unpaid for too long are more likely to get overlooked and go uncollected.

Your bookkeeper should keep track of all accounts receivable and include them in the monthly financial reports that he or she submits to you. Having these details included in your reports will not only keep you apprised of your company’s financial health, but it can also allow us to better assist you if and when you ever need support with collections.

4. Get Paid Upfront

One easy way to boost your cash flow and eliminate headaches associated with accounts receivable is to have your customers pay their bills upfront whenever possible. This is especially true if you have clients who are consistently late with payment.

If full payment upfront isn’t feasible, even requiring partial payment as a deposit will improve cash flow. To encourage quick payment, consider offering discounts for upfront or early payment. At the same time, have a firm policy in place that penalizes late payments, and make sure your sale agreements clearly spell this policy out—and you consistently enforce it with all late paying clients.

5. Maintain A Cash Reserve

Just about every startup experiences revenue shortfalls. And your company’s survival will likely depend on how you handle these lean times. To shield your company from the inevitable slow periods and unforeseen emergencies, try to maintain a cash reserve—even if it’s just access to a line of credit.

Having a reserve to fall back on will not only protect your company’s financial health, it can also save you from the stress and desperation that comes from unexpectedly running out of money. Nothing will kill your team’s morale—and your company’s growth—more than finding yourself unable to cover payroll.

Keep The Cash Flowing
All the vision and passion in the world won’t keep your startup afloat if you fail to properly manage your cash flow. That said, you don’t have to be a financial genius to keep your revenue flowing freely—you just need the proper systems and support. As your Family Business Lawyer, we can support you with both. 

We will assess your current financial systems and advise you about additional ways you can shore up any weak spots in your company’s foundation. Getting a handle on your cash flow will prevent your startup from running out of money, and it will also free up your time and energy to focus on the big-picture responsibilities needed to ensure your business not only survives, but truly thrives. Contact us today to get started.

This article is a service of Sahmra A. Stevenson, Personal Family Lawyer®. We do not just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session™, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $450 session at no charge.

What To Expect From Your Initial Meeting With Us Your Personal Family Lawyer®

Whether you’ve met with an estate planning lawyer before or it’s your first time, it’s important to understand how working with us, your Personal Family Lawyer® is different from meeting with a traditional lawyer. 

Here we will explain what’s involved with our process, in hopes that it will inspire you to meet with us, your Personal Family Lawyer® and get clear on what your family needs you to have in place, so you don’t leave behind a mess if you become incapacitated or when you die. We promise to help you make the wisest, most affordable, most effective, time-saving plan for yourself and the people you love. 

Meeting With A Traditional Lawyer

Given the unique approach of Personal Family Lawyer® firms, an initial consultation with our firm is quite different from an initial consultation with a typical estate planning attorney. A typical “initial consultation” would be a meet-and-greet-type of meeting, in which the lawyer describes the various legal documents you need to put in place and quotes you a fee to provide those documents.

In those types of meetings, it will likely be quite difficult for you to know exactly what you need for your unique family situation, assets, and how to make the right decision, outside of simply considering whether the cost of these documents fits within your budget. Deciding what you need based solely on the cost of documents will likely lead to you receiving a set of documents that won’t serve and protect your family or your assets when they need the most support.

Unfortunately, we’ve seen it all too often: You have the best of intentions to do the right thing and get a will or trust in place, but you either don’t do it, don’t complete it, or work with a lawyer who puts in place a documents-only plan that is little more than what you could do yourself online through an online document service. And then you become incapacitated or die, and your family is left with a mess: They don’t know where your assets are, they don’t know who to turn to, your documents are out-of-date, and your loved ones are lost, confused, and grieving all at once. 

We’ve designed our entire process, which we call Life & Legacy Planning, to support an entirely different reality—one in which you use the estate planning process to not only leave behind a plan for the people you love, but to make your life even better right now. Let me explain how we do that.

Family Wealth Planning Session™

As your Personal Family Lawyer® firm, our entire process is designed to support you to make the right decisions for yourself and the people you love during your life and to leave a legacy of support and love to the people you care about most. 

In service to that, our initial meeting with you is a two-hour working session, called a Family Wealth Planning Session. During this session, you’ll educate us on everything you own and all of your family dynamics, and we’ll educate you on how the law would apply to you, your assets, and your family in the event of your incapacity or death. Then, together we will create a plan for how to structure your affairs, how you’d like to have your family supported, and how to keep track of your assets, so your family never feels lost, confused, or alone during a time of grief. And by the time you leave the Session, you’ll feel relieved, cared for, and more clear than you’ve ever been about how to make life choices in alignment with the legacy you desire to leave, as a parent, as a business owner or professional, and as the CEO of your life.

This Planning Session is $750. But if you’d like us to waive this fee, we will do so if you are willing to do a bit of homework ahead of time. This homework is a critical part of the planning process, and it will benefit your loved ones whether you engage in a full plan with us or not. The homework will guide you to find everything you own, and document it, using our Personal Resource Map: Family Wealth Inventory and Assessment.

Just completing this initial assessment will likely get you more financially organized than you’ve ever been before.

We are consistently surprised to see that many of our clients do not have a clear awareness of what they own or how to locate all of their assets. And if you don’t know what you have and where it is and you haven’t documented it, how will your family know? This is exactly why there is more than $58 billion (yes, that’s billion with a “b”) of lost and unclaimed assets held by state and federal agencies in the U.S. This happens when you become incapacitated or die, and your family is unable to find or simply overlooks assets you’ve worked so hard to create because most people fail to properly inventory their assets and/ or keep that inventory regularly updated. So we support you to start there.

We know you haven’t devoted years of your precious time and energy to build your family wealth only for your heirs to lose track of it when something happens to you. That’s one reason the Family Wealth Planning Session is so beneficial. Whether you decide to create a full estate plan or just rework the one you have, after working with us, at the very least your family will know what you have and how to locate it should anything happen to you. 

And if you do decide to create an estate plan or redesign an existing plan with us, the Family Wealth Planning Session will guide you to choose the type of plan you want based on your budget, what’s most important to you, what’s not important to you, and with a clear understanding of the impact of your choices. We will guide you to choose the most affordable and effective planning solution for your life and the people you love, so you can get your affairs in order and keep them that way throughout your lifetime and through all of life’s changes

This investment of your time now will save your family countless hours of heartache and work down the road, while also keeping your loved ones out of conflict and out of court. If you choose to work with us, you’ll get the peace of mind that comes with knowing you never have to make another financial or legal decision without our guidance again. And if and when something happens to you, your loved ones will get the same type of trusted advisor, who will be there for them when you can’t be.

Death is unavoidable. But you can make it far easier on the people you love by the choices you make now. And facing the reality of this fact allows you to make choices that will let you enjoy your current life even more. In fact, our clients often report a huge sense of relief after meeting with us, and they frequently say they wished they’d created a life and legacy plan sooner.

Life & Legacy Planning

You see, we’ve discovered that estate planning is about far more than planning for your death and passing on your “estate” and assets to your loved ones—it’s about planning for a life you love and a legacy worth leaving by the choices you make today—and this is why we call our services Life & Legacy Planning.

As your Personal Family Lawyer®, we are specially trained to educate, empower, and support you to make the right decisions for your life and for the people you love. Furthermore, because your plan will be designed to provide for your loved ones in the event of your death or incapacity, we aren’t just here to serve you—we’re here to serve your entire family. 

In the end, your Life & Legacy Plan goes far beyond simply creating documents and then never seeing us again. We will develop a relationship with you and your family that lasts not only for your lifetime but for the lifetime of your children and their children if that’s your wish. And this all starts with our Family Wealth Planning Session. If you’d like to learn more about this process or schedule your appointment, contact us, your Personal Family Lawyer® today.

This article is a service of Sahmra A. Stevenson, Personal Family Lawyer®. We do not just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session™, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $450 session at no charge.

Far too many aspiring entrepreneurs jumpstart their businesses without taking the time to properly plan. Just as a builder uses a blueprint to ensure a new construction project will be structurally sound, a carefully researched and well-thought-out business plan allows you to determine whether or not your business concept will actually succeed and make money.

A solid business plan can not only serve as a roadmap to guide your company’s progress, but it can also give you an opportunity to test the validity of your business model, research the market, understand your competition, and avoid potential pitfalls. And if you are applying for a loan or seeking investors, a business plan is a must-have to demonstrate that you’ve fully vetted your business’ financial feasibility.

In the end, developing a solid business plan can be the difference between your nascent business’s success or failure. While you should consult with your Family Business Lawyer™ before you open your doors to ensure your company has the proper legal, insurance, financial, and tax (LIFT) foundation needed to survive and thrive, here are 7 tips for creating a winning business plan.

1. Communicate Your Company’s Purpose And Vision

Developing a plan to make money is important, but it’s not the only—nor most crucial—factor. In addition to identifying how you are going to generate revenue, you also need to understand why your company exists (its purpose), and what you hope to accomplish (its vision) with your brand.

Your company’s purpose and vision will serve as your organization’s compass for making future decisions at all levels, and provide a framework for how you market and run your operation. Once you’ve come up with your business’ purpose and vision, you can more easily define what makes your business unique from competitors, and how you plan to deliver your product or service to the public.

2. Identify Your Competition
When creating your plan, it’s vital that you understand who your competitors are and how your company is different—and better—than them. How do you plan to set yourself apart from other companies? Is there enough market share to support your business in your chosen market?

Keep in mind that your competition isn’t always another businessx—it might be a completely new technology that redenders your new business obsolete.

3. Outline Your Business Model
While your business plan is a broad overview of your company’s purpose and how you plan to fulfill your goals, your business model focuses on the specific ways in which you plan to generate revenue. In other words, what are you going to sell, how much are you going to sell it for, and who is going to buy it? This is a critical part of your business plan if you’re seeking financing or investors.

That said, outlining your business model is necessary even if you don’t plan to raise startup capital. Indeed, the process of developing financial projections, including an estimate of start-up costs, a break-even analysis, a profit-and-loss forecast, and a cash-flow projection, will help you decide if your business is worth starting, or if you need to rethink your concept.

4. Be Realistic

Be conservative in all of your financial estimates and projections. Being overly optimistic with projected sales and revenue is a common error among new business owners. One safe route to take is to go with half the amount you think is possible with your first estimate.

In the end, it’s much better to underestimate and over-deliver than set expectations that can’t be fulfilled.

5. Support Your Claims With Evidence
Have evidence to back up every claim you make in your business plan. For example, budgets, projected sales figures, and profit-and-loss statements can back up your financial projections, while website traffic data can back up your digital marketing plans.

Within your plan, include all of the variables that can potentially impact your assumptions, and then explain how you intend to manage those variables.

6. Set Specific, Time-Based Goals For Your Business
Be specific with the goals you set for your company, and identify specific action benchmarks that you can track. Setting defined goals sharpens your focus and gives you a way to track your company’s progress as you grow your operation.

7. Get Help From Outside Professionals
While you may be a whiz at delivering your core product or service, you likely aren’t nearly as skilled at some of the more nitty-gritty aspects of your operation—crunching numbers, negotiating contracts, dealing with insurance, and preparing your taxes. This is where you should seek the guidance and support of outside professionals, including your Family Business Lawyer™.

When developing your business plan and starting your company, we can help ensure you don’t overlook key areas of your operation that can negatively impact your chances for success, particularly those involving the legal, insurance, financial, and tax (LIFT) components of your business.

Don’t Neglect Your Foundation
From keeping financials and creating solid agreements to managing taxes and buying insurance, these tasks may not be very glamorous, but ignoring them can seriously stunt your budding business—and even lead to financial ruin if you’re sued or audited.

As your Family Business Lawyer™, we can ensure you have the foundational legal, insurance, tax, and financial (LIFT) systems in place, so you can focus your time and energy on growing your new business. Schedule a LIFT Start-Up Session with us before launching your new company, and then, as your operation grows, meet with us again to implement the full suite of systems offered in our LIFT Foundation System and Toolkit. Contact us today to get started.

This article is a service of Sahmra A. Stevenson, Family Business Lawyer™. We offer a complete spectrum of legal services for businesses and can help you make the wisest choices on how to deal with your business throughout life and in the event of your death. We also offer a LIFT Start-Up Session™ or a LIFT Audit for an ongoing business, which includes a review of all the legal, financial, and tax systems you need for your business. Call us today to schedule.

No matter how well you think you know your loved ones, it’s impossible to predict exactly how they’ll behave when you die or if you become incapacitated. No one wants to believe that their family members would ever end up fighting one another in court over inheritance issues or a loved one’s life-saving medical treatment, but the fact is, we see it all the time.

Family dynamics are extremely complicated and prone to conflict even during the best of times. But when tragedy strikes a member of the household, even minor tensions and disagreements can explode into bitter conflict. And when access to money (or even quite often, sentimental items of furniture or jewelry) is on the line, the potential for discord is exponentially increased. Ultimately, there is no greater cost to families than the cost of lost relationships after the death or incapacity of a loved one.

The good news is you can dramatically reduce the chances for conflict in your family by working with an experienced estate planning lawyer, who understands and can anticipate these dynamics. In fact, preventing family conflict is one of the primary reasons to work with us, as your Personal Family Lawyer®, to create your estate plan, rather than relying on do-it-yourself estate planning documents. After all, even the best set of documents will be unable to anticipate and navigate such complex emotional matters—but we can.

By becoming aware of some of the leading causes of conflict over your estate plan, you’re in a better position to prevent those situations through effective planning. Though it’s impossible to predict how your loved ones will react to your estate plan, the following issues are among the most common catalysts for conflict.

Poor Fiduciary Selection

Many estate planning disputes occur when a person you’ve chosen to handle your affairs following your death or incapacity fails to properly carry out his or her responsibilities. Whether it’s as your power of attorney agent, executor, or trustee, these roles can entail a variety of different duties, some of which can last for years.

The individual you select, known as a fiduciary, is legally required to execute those duties and act in the best interests of the beneficiaries named in your plan. The failure to do either of those things is referred to as a breach of fiduciary duty.

The breach can be the result of the person’s deliberate action, or it could be something they do unintentionally by mistake. Either way, a breach—or even the perception of one—can cause real and understandable conflict between your loved ones. This is especially true if the fiduciary attempts to use the position for personal gain, or if the improper actions negatively impact the beneficiaries.

Common breaches include failing to provide required accounting and tax information to beneficiaries, improperly using estate or trust assets for the fiduciary’s personal benefit, making improper distributions, and failing to pay taxes, debts, and expenses owed by the estate or trust.

If a suspected breach occurs, beneficiaries can sue to have the fiduciary removed, recover any damages they incurred, and even recover punitive damages if the breach was committed out of malice or fraud.

Solution: Given the potentially immense responsibilities involved, you must be extremely careful when selecting your fiduciaries, and make sure everyone in your family knows why you chose the person you did, and that the person you choose knows how to do the job—and do it well. You should only choose the most honest, trustworthy, and diligent individuals, and be careful not to select those who might have potential conflicts of interest with beneficiaries.

Furthermore, it’s crucial that your estate planning documents contain clear terms spelling out a fiduciary’s responsibilities and duties, so the individual understands exactly what’s expected of him or her. And should things go awry, you can add terms to your plan that allow beneficiaries to remove and replace a fiduciary without going to court.

As your Personal Family Lawyer®, we can assist you with selecting the most qualified fiduciaries; drafting the most precise, explicit, and understandable terms in all of your planning documents; as well as ensuring that your family understands your choices, so they do not end up in conflict when it’s too late. In this way, the individuals you select to carry out your wishes will have the best chances of doing so successfully—and with as little conflict as possible.

Contesting The Validity Of Wills and Trusts

The validity of your will and/or trust can be contested in court for a few different reasons. If such a contest is successful, the court declares your will or trust invalid, which effectively means the document(s) never existed in the first place. This would likely be disastrous for everyone involved, especially your intended beneficiaries.

However, just because someone disagrees with what they received in your will or trust doesn’t mean that person can contest it. Whether or not the individual agrees with the terms of your plan is irrelevant—it is your plan after all. Rather, they must prove that your plan is invalid (and should be thrown out) based on one or more of the following legal grounds:

• The document was improperly executed (signed, witnessed, and/or notarized) as required by state law.
• You did not have the necessary mental capacity at the time you created the document to understand what you were doing.
• Someone unduly influenced or coerced you into creating or changing the document.
• The document was procured by fraud.

Additionally, only those individuals with “legal standing” can contest your will or trust.

Just because someone was intimately involved in your life, even a blood relative, doesn’t automatically mean they can legally contest your plan.

Those with the potential for legal standing generally fall into two categories: 1) family members who would inherit—or inherit more—under state law if you never created the document, and 2) beneficiaries (family, friends, and charities) named or given a larger bequest in a previous version of the document.

Solution: There are times when family members might contest your will and/or trust over legitimate concerns, such as if they believe you were tricked or coerced into changing your plan by an unscrupulous caregiver. However, that’s not what we’re addressing here.

Here, we’re addressing—and seeking to prevent—contests that are attempts by disgruntled family members and/or would-be beneficiaries seeking to improve the benefit they received through your plan. We’re also seeking to prevent contests that are a result of disputes between members of blended families, particularly those that arise between spouses and children from a previous relationship. 

First off, working with an experienced lawyer like us is critically important if you have one or more family members who are unhappy—or who may be unhappy—with how they are treated in your plan. This need is especially true if you’re seeking to disinherit or favor one member of your family over another. 

Some of the leading reasons for unhappiness include having a plan that benefits some children more than others, as well as when your plan benefits friends, unmarried domestic partners, or other individuals instead of, or in addition to, your family. Conflict is also likely when you name a third-party trustee to manage an adult beneficiary’s inheritance to prevent them from being negatively affected by the sudden windfall.

In these cases, it’s vital to make sure your plan is properly created and maintained to ensure these individuals will not have any legal ground to contest your will or trust. One way you can do this is to include clear language that you are making the choices laid out in your plan of your own free will, so no one will be able to challenge your wishes by claiming your incapacity or duress.

Beyond having a sound plan in place, it’s also crucial that you clearly communicate your intentions to everyone affected by your will or trust while you’re still alive, rather than having them learn about it when you’re no longer around. Indeed, we often recommend holding a family meeting (which we can help facilitate) to go over everything with all impacted parties.

Blended Families Increase Likelihood For Conflict
Outside of contests originated by disgruntled loved ones, the potential for your will or trust to cause dispute is significantly increased if you have a blended family. If you are in a second (or more) marriage, with children from a prior relationship, your children and spouse often have conflicting interests, which can lead to conflict. 

Solution: To reduce the likelihood of dispute, it’s crucial that your estate plan contain clear and unambiguous terms spelling out the beneficiaries’ exact rights, along with the rights and responsibilities of executors and/or trustees. Such precise terms help ensure all parties know exactly what you intended.

Additionally, if you have a blended family, it’s absolutely essential that you meet with all affected parties while you’re still alive (and of sound mind) to clearly explain your wishes directly, if you hope for your loved ones to love each other after you are gone. Sharing your intentions and hopes for the future with your new spouse and children from a prior relationship is hugely important to avoid disagreements over your wishes for them

When it comes to inheriting your estate, your new spouse and your children from a prior marriage have inherently conflicting interests. For one, if your new spouse inherits everything you have when you die, your children from a prior marriage could receive nothing when your new spouse dies, unless you’ve planned in advance to ensure your assets are held in trust for your new spouse to be used during his or her life, and then stipulated that the balance should mandatorily pass to your children upon your spouse’s death.

But that creates yet another potential conflict.

For example, your new spouse may choose to invest the assets conservatively, ensuring they have enough money to live comfortably for a few more decades instead of investing assets for growth. However, the children—particularly if they are younger—might be better off having the assets placed into higher-risk investments, which can offer better returns in the long run, but leave less income for the surviving spouse.

In that case, it’s best to name a neutral third party as successor trustee, so both the children and surviving spouse’s interests can be balanced fairly.

Prevent Disputes Before They Happen

The best way to deal with estate planning disputes is to do everything possible to make sure they never occur in the first place. This means working with us, your Personal Family Lawyer® to put planning strategies in place aimed at anticipating and avoiding common sources of conflict. Moreover, it means constantly reviewing and updating your plan to keep pace with your changing circumstances and family dynamics.

Whether the potential dispute arises from disgruntled heirs, sibling rivalries, or the conflicting interests of members of your blended family, as your Personal Family Lawyer®, we are specifically trained to predict and prevent such conflicts. Meet with us today to learn more.

This article is a service of Sahmra A. Stevenson, Personal Family Lawyer®. We do not just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session™, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

A comprehensive estate plan — which we prefer to see as a Life and Legacy Plan — can protect what matters most to you. For many, this means everything you own and everyone you love.

Obviously, this includes  providing  for the care of your children as an essential piece of your  peace of mind. But many parents struggle with including such provisions as naming a legal guardian for their child in their plan. Even the fictional parents in the popular television sitcom Modern Family struggled with this issue in a recent episode. While Jay and his new and much younger wife Gloria agonized and argued about who they should name as a legal guardian for their children, their children were left at risk that if something happened to Jay and Gloria before they decided and properly named guardians in a legal document, a judge would make the decision for them. Not ideal, under any circumstances.

Take a few minutes to consider right now: if both you and your child’s other parent were to become incapacitated or die right now, who would step forward to care for your child? Would that be who you would want to raise your child, if you could not? Is that who you would want to take care of the financial assets you are leaving behind?

And, what about the short-term? Are your children often left in the care of a babysitter who would have no idea what to do if you didn’t make it home at the end of the evening? If not, even if you have named legal guardians, your child could be taken into the care of strangers if something happens to you, while the authorities figure out what to do.

Unfortunately, even if you have made the hard decisions and worked with a lawyer to name legal guardians in a Will, your kids could still be at risk, because that would not take into account what happens if you become incapacitated, or if your named guardians all live far from your home, and it wouldn’t protect against anyone who may challenge your decisions. The only way to ensure your kids are raised by the people you want, in the way you want, never taken into the care of strangers (even temporarily) and that your kids would never be raised by anyone you wouldn’t want, is by creating a comprehensive Kids Protection Plan®, which only a select few lawyers, like us, are trained to provide.

If you are ready to take that step, start by sitting down with us. As your Personal Family Lawyer®, we can walk you step by step through creating a comprehensive Kids Protection Plan® that not only names a legal guardian for your child in your Will, but also ensures your kids care is fully provided for, in the short-term and the long-term, and in the event of your incapacity. And, if necessary, we can also ensure anyone you would not want to raise your kids, never could or would.

Working with a trusted Personal Family Lawyer® will ensure your entire family is protected and cared for no matter what. Contact us today to get started! Or, if you’d like to read the best-selling book on legal planning for parents, Wear Clean Underwear: A Fast, Fun, Friendly — and Essential — Guide to Legal Planning for Busy Families, just contact our office and ask us to send it to you as our gift, or use this link to request it now.

This article is a service of Sahmra A. Stevenson, Personal Family Lawyer®. We don’t just draft documents, we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love.  That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session™ during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before, and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

Even if you put a totally solid estate plan in place, it can turn out to be worthless for the people you love if it’s not regularly updated.

Estate planning is not a one-and-done type of deal—your plan should continuously evolve along with your life circumstances and other changing conditions, such as your assets and the law.

No matter who you are, your life will inevitably change: families change, laws change, assets change, and goals change. In the absence of any major life events, we recommend reviewing your estate plan annually to make sure its terms are up to date.

Additionally, there are several common life events that require you to immediately update your plan—that is, if you want it to actually work and keep your loved ones out of court and out of conflict. With this in mind, if any of the following events occur, contact us, your Personal Family Lawyer® right away to amend your plan.

1) You get married: Marriage not only changes your relationship status; it changes your legal status. Regardless of whether it’s your first marriage or fourth, you must take the proper steps to ensure your estate plan properly reflects your current wishes and needs.

After tying the knot, some of your most pressing concerns include naming your new spouse as a beneficiary on your insurance policies and retirement accounts, granting him or her medical power of attorney and/or durable financial power of attorney (if that’s your wish), and adding him or her to your will and/or trust.

2) You get divorced: Since divorce can be one of the most stressful life events, estate planning often gets overshadowed by the other dramatic changes happening. But failing to update your plan for divorce can have terrible consequences.

Once divorce proceedings start, you’ll need to ensure your future ex is no longer eligible to receive any of your assets or make financial and medical decisions on your behalf—unless that’s your wish. Once the divorce is finalized and your property is divided, you’ll need to adjust your planning to match your new asset profile and living situation.

3) You give birth or adopt: Welcoming a new addition to your family can be a joyous occasion, but it also demands entirely new levels of planning and responsibility. At the top of your to-do list should be legally naming both long and short-term guardians for your child. Our Kids Protection Plan offers everything you need to complete this process for free right now.

Once you’ve named guardians, consider putting estate planning vehicles, such as a revocable living trust, in place for your kids. These planning tools can make certain the assets you want your child to inherit will be passed on in the most effective and beneficial way possible for everyone involved. Consult with your Personal Family Lawyer® to determine which planning strategies are best suited for your family situation.

4) A loved one dies: The death of a family member, partner, or close friend can have serious consequences for both your life and estate plan. If the person was included in your plan, you need to update it accordingly to fill any gaps his or her absence creates. From naming new beneficiaries, executors, and guardians to identifying new heirs to receive assets allocated to the deceased, make sure you address all voids the death creates as soon as possible.

5) You get seriously ill or injured: As with death, illness and injury are an unavoidable part of life. If you’ve been diagnosed with a serious illness or are involved in a life-changing accident, you may want to review the people you’ve chosen to handle your healthcare decisions as well as how those decisions should be made. The person you want to serve as your healthcare proxy can change with time, so be sure your plan reflects your current wishes.

6) You relocate to a new state: Since estate planning laws can vary widely from state to state, if you move to a different state, you’ll need to review and/or revise your plan to comply with your new home’s legal requirements. Some of these laws can be incredibly complex, so consult with us to make certain your plan will still work exactly as you desire in your new location.

7) Your assets or liabilities change significantly: Whenever your estate’s value dramatically increases or decreases, you should revisit your estate plan to ensure it still offers the maximum protection and benefits for yourself and your loved ones. Whether you inherit a fortune, take out a new loan, close your business, or change your investment portfolio, your estate plan should be adjusted accordingly.

8) You plan to buy or sell a business: If you plan to sell a business, you can engage in estate planning strategies to avoid almost all of your capital gains taxes, if you revisit your estate plan ahead of time. And, of course, if you are buying a business, you’ll want to ensure your plan is updated to take into account your succession plans for the new business.

For every business you own, you should consider creating a buy-sell agreement and/or a business succession plan to protect both your business and your family in case something happens to you. In your estate plan, you can not only decide who will take over your role as the company’s owner should something happen to you, but you can also provide him or her with a road map for how the business should be run in your absence by creating a comprehensive business succession plan.

At the same time, you should consult with your Personal Family Lawyer® to take advantage of the numerous tax-savings opportunities that may be available when you buy or sell your business. The tax laws are constantly changing, so you should consult with us to amend your estate plan to achieve the maximum level of tax savings possible in light of the latest changes to the tax code.

A Common Mistake

Outside of not creating any estate plan at all, one of the most common planning mistakes we encounter is when we get called by the loved ones of someone who has become incapacitated or died with a plan that no longer works because it has not been properly updated. Unfortunately, once something happens to you, it’s too late to adjust your plan, and the loved ones you leave behind are forced to deal with the aftermath.

Keeping your estate plan updated is so important, we’ve created proprietary systems designed to ensure these changes are made for all of our clients, so you don’t need to worry about whether you’ve overlooked anything like your family, the law, and your assets change over time. Be sure to ask us about these systems during your visit.

Furthermore, because your plan is designed to protect and provide for your loved ones in the event of your death or incapacity, as your Personal Family Lawyer®, we’re not just here to serve you—we’re here to serve your entire family. We take the time to get to know your family members and include them in the planning process, so everyone affected by your plan is well-aware of what your latest planning strategies are and why you made the choices you did, along with knowing exactly what they need to do if something happens to you.

For The Love of Your Family

As your Personal Family Lawyer®, our estate planning services go far beyond simply creating documents and then never seeing you again. We develop a relationship with you and your family that lasts not only for your lifetime but for the lifetime of your children and their children if that’s your wish.

Plus, we support you in not only creating a plan that keeps your family out of court and out of conflict in the event of your death or incapacity, but we will also ensure that your plan is regularly updated to make certain that it works and is there for your family when you cannot be. Contact us today to get started.

This article is a service of Sahmra A. Stevenson, Personal Family Lawyer®. We do not just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session™, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

As a small business owner, you may be wondering why you need to hire a lawyer to help you run your company. This is especially true today when you can access just about every conceivable legal document online for cheap from the countless online do-it-yourself document services like LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer.

But here’s the thing: Without the guidance and support of trusted legal counsel, you are likely not aware of all the ways your business is leaking money, putting yourself and your family at risk, and possibly limiting the positive impact you have on the lives of your clients.

Beyond those potential issues, if you are handling all of your company’s legal, insurance, financial, and tax decisions yourself, you’ll likely get overwhelmed by all the necessary pieces required to run a business on a daily basis—crunching numbers, negotiating contracts, dealing with insurance, and preparing your taxes—and something will suffer.

Either you won’t be able to focus on the parts of your business that you truly love—the products, client services, or the sales and marketing—or you will overlook the key legal, insurance, financial, and tax matters affecting your company and this will negatively impact your operation.

Do Any Of These Scenarios Sound Familiar?

To give you a more concrete idea of what you are missing by not having a Family Business Lawyer™ on your team, consider whether or not you have experienced any of the following issues with your business:

• Incredible business opportunities slip through the cracks because you can’t make decisions fast enough.
• It takes too long to get paid, and your outstanding receivables are driving you crazy and impacting your ability to generate consistent revenue.
• You want to take your business to the next level, but you keep getting stuck in situations that you aren’t sure how to handle.
• Your boundaries have been violated one too many times by clients because you didn’t clarify exactly what the terms of the deal were.
• You are ready to scale your company, but you aren’t sure if your business has the resources you need to achieve sustainable growth.
• Trying to personally manage all of the legal, insurance, financial, and tax (LIFT) aspects of your business are draining your energy and creativity, which impedes your ability to keep the money flowing and your clients happy.

Have Your Very Own In-House Legal Counsel

Most small business owners don’t think they need to hire a lawyer, and perhaps this is why roughly half of all businesses fail within the first five years of operation. Yet, the most successful companies wouldn’t dream of not having a lawyer on their team.

These companies typically employ one or more in-house lawyers, who proactively identify missed opportunities for the company, spot potential risks, create plans to mitigate risks and build on opportunities. Case in point: Warren Buffett doesn’t make a single business move without consulting with his personal lawyer, Charlie Munger.

Why? Because Charlie’s wisdom combined with his legal acumen, experience, and ethics are invaluable in helping Warren achieve his professional goals with ease.

Even if you don’t run a big company, your company still deserves—and frankly requires—this kind of relationship in order to reach its full potential and for you to make wise decisions that lead to early thriving. And by working with us, your Family Business Lawyer™, you will have your very own trusted in-house legal counsel in your corner.

Not All Lawyers Are Created Equal
Another reason why you may be hesitant to hire a Family Business Lawyer™ is that you may have worked with other lawyers in the past who failed to provide the level of service we offer. Most lawyers have been taught that the legal profession is all about forms, documents, and templates, most of which are readily available online for those looking to take the do-it-yourself route.

Yet, lawyers who simply provide standard documents and forms on a one-off basis without truly getting to know you, your life, and your business are simply inexperienced. The services they offer are not what we offer. Your Family Business Lawyer™ focuses on counseling, consulting, and “consigliere-ing” over creating documents—document creation simply becomes a useful byproduct of our professional relationship.

10 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Family Business Lawyer™

To give you a better idea of what a relationship with a Family Business Lawyer™ entails, here are 10 things you can expect when you hire us to support your company:

1. Your Family Business Lawyer™ is a perfect combination of trusted advisor, problem solver, keeper of secrets, and deep listener.

2. Your Family Business Lawyer™ will offer you trusted advice to help you make the tough decisions that are required daily in your role as your company’s leader.

3. Your Family Business Lawyer™ will ensure you keep the money you make and are prepared to earn even more revenue, freeing you up to stay focused on the money-making aspects of your job that you truly enjoy.

4. Your Family Business Lawyer™ will help you avoid common risks and pitfalls, handle sticky situations, and effectively tend to the parts of your business that are especially challenging, particularly those involving the legal, insurance, financial, and tax (LIFT) components of your business.

5. Your Family Business Lawyer™ will help you create, maintain, and honor your professional and personal boundaries.

6. Your Family Business Lawyer™ will help you set clear expectations and collect on promises made to you, including money that’s owed to your business.

7. Your Family Business Lawyer™ will support you to incorporate the systems, processes, and technology to ensure your business is positioned properly for rapid, sustainable growth.

8. Your Family Business Lawyer™ will help you build an unshakable legal, insurance, financial, and tax (LIFT) foundation for your business, so you’ll never have to live in fear, worry, or doubt about your company’s survival again.

9. Your Family Business Lawyer™ will provide you with confidence about your business’s long-term success, so you can devote all of your energy and passion to growing your business into something truly meaningful for yourself, your clients, and your family.

10. Your Family Business Lawyer™ will help you put in place an effective estate plan, so you can rest assured that your business will survive and thrive even if you become incapacitated or after you die.

Take Your Business To The Next Level

If you are ready to take your business to the next level and reach goals you previously thought were unattainable, meet with your Family Business Lawyer™. Our services go far beyond simply creating legal agreements and other documents for your business and then never seeing you again.

In fact, as your Family Business Lawyer™, we will develop a relationship with you that lasts not only for your lifetime but for the lifetime of your business and your successor, if that’s your wish. With our trusted guidance and support, your business will continue to grow and thrive for generations to come. Contact us today to learn more.

This article is a service of Sahmra A. Stevenson, Family Business Lawyer™. We offer a complete spectrum of legal services for businesses and can help you make the wisest choices on how to deal with your business throughout life and in the event of your death. We also offer a LIFT Start-Up Session™ or a LIFT Audit for an ongoing business, which includes a review of all the legal, financial, and tax systems you need for your business. Call us today to schedule.

It seems that everywhere you look, a new start-up is trying to make it big with a game-changing idea. But it’s only the ones that can turn that idea into reality that reach business success. Too many start-ups fail to make the transition from idea to execution or encounter major setbacks along the way. In the midst of developing your growing start-up, don’t make the common mistake of disregarding tedious, but vital tasks such as making sure all your legal, insurance, financial, and tax ducks are in a row.

Establishing a solid legal system can help you avoid costly mistakes and save time and stress down the road. Many entrepreneurs struggle with developing such systems because they don’t foresee the most common mistakes start-ups make. Avoiding these only takes a little self-awareness and planning, so read on to learn how to sidestep the five biggest legal mistakes a start-up can make.

1.      Be strategic when creating your entity. Think about your long-term goals, and choose an entity that  matches up. Have your eye on major growth and raising capital? Consider a Delaware C-Corporation, which could set you up for venture capital. Looking for tax advantages? Look into the advantages of an S-Corporation structure that will allow you to minimize your payroll taxes by splitting your personal pay between salary and distributions.

And, while you can always convert your entity, later on, doing it right the first time will save you time and money. When you talk with a lawyer about the best form of entity, make sure your lawyer doesn’t just suggest a one-size fits all solution, but actually understands the details of your business now and where you want to grow in the future.

2.      Be clear with co-founders. Don’t wait until your business begins to make a profit to begin discussing what each founder is worth. Confront the elephant in the room (i.e. money and position) and be clear on rights, decision-making authority, and equity from the get-go. A well-drafted operating agreement or shareholder agreement is key here. The agreement process itself can surface potential conflicts in advance, and confirm whether you and your co-founders are truly in alignment before big investments of time and money are made.3.      Protect your intellectual property. It’s essential to establish ironclad protections for the intellectual property that impacts your business’s future value. Think beyond just patents and

trademarks; consider having founders, employees and third-party developers sign intellectual property rights agreements so you retain the value they may create while working for you.

4.      Develop a robust set of contract templates. You will thank yourself later for establishing clear guidelines and minimizing your liabilities in writing. Online legal document drafting services are one size fits all; your business will be best served by developing a set of templates that meets your business’s unique needs.

5.      Don’t overlook the importance of working with a lawyer. Working with a trusted lawyer can help you avoid all the mistakes above plus countless others you will likely make as you grow your start-up. A lawyer who also works as a creative strategic advisor, as we do, will guide you to not just avoid legal mistakes, but set your business up with the right legal, insurance, financial, and tax systems for a lifetime of business success. 

Just because you’re a start-up doesn’t mean you have to be naive. If you are serious about developing a solid legal foundation for your start-up, begin by sitting down with us. As your Family Business Lawyer®, we can help you identify your liabilities, mitigate any legal risks and get you on the right track for success. This will allow you the freedom and energy to focus on growing your business.  Schedule your LIFT Strategy Session with me today to get started.

This article is a service of Sahmra A. Stevenson, Esq., Family Business Lawyer®. We offer a complete spectrum of legal services for businesses and can help you make the wisest choices on how to deal with your business throughout life and in the event of your death. We also offer a LIFT Start-Up Session™ or a LIFT Audit for an ongoing business, which includes a review of all the legal, financial, and tax systems you need for your business. Call us today to schedule.