Family-Owned Business

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Family businesses have unique strengths and challenges. Whether owning and running a business together, transitioning between generations, supporting retirement or ensuring the family legacy, the attorneys in our Family-Owned Business Group recognize that clients want to achieve and maintain financial success while also inspiring family unity and individual fulfillment. Because we understand the emotional connections and issues at play, we combine empathy and expertise to help family-owned businesses achieve their full potential. With this in mind, we are dedicated to assisting family business owners and their families with the following services:

Business Structure: We help owners organize (or reorganize) their business in ways that best suit their objectives for family ownership, continuous operations, successful management, asset protection, tax efficiency and succession planning.

Business Governance: We design and implement governing boards, advisory boards and family councils that drive business goals and maintain trust between owners.

Owner Agreements: We develop shareholder agreements, LLC agreements and other buy-sell agreements that define and protect the economic rights of family members when they acquire ownership interests and when they execute an exit plan.

Succession Planning: We help senior generation owners plan transitions to the next generation, using tax-efficient lifetime wealth transfers, trusts and other estate planning strategies.

Transactions: We help with transactions to raise capital, sell divisions and acquire new assets or complementary operations. This includes a careful focus on the timing and strategy of the sale and investment of the proceeds.

Operations: Our team assists family business clients with a full array of business legal services, including:

Family Dispute Resolution: Avoiding or resolving disputes that arise with business ownership or management requires creativity and patience. Our team can recommend innovative transactional solutions or alternatives such as mediation and arbitration.

Fiduciary Litigation: We represent family business owners, directors, trustees and other fiduciaries in shareholder litigation and judicial proceedings involving trusts and estates.

In addition, many of our family business clients also benefit from the creation of a virtual or independent family office with respect to the owners’ personal financial, tax and estate planning needs and opportunities.

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Family-Owned Business News & Insights