#1: Is the value of your business firmly established?
Questions to consider:

• Have I ever had my business value appraised by an outside party?
• Do I have a formal buy/sell agreement in place?
• Is my buy/sell agreement funded?
• Does my buy/sell agreement adequately protect my heirs, my business, and my partners?
• Has this agreement been reviewed in the last 3 years?

If you have any plans to someday extricate yourself from your business (and you should ALWAYS consider your exit strategy), these are critical questions.

#2: Is there an emergency plan?
Questions to consider:

• Do I have a will, and is it up to date with my business wishes?
• Do I have a plan to retain key employees if something were to happen to me?
• Are my assets protected from potential litigation?
• Have I identified and written down my trusted advisors?

Unless you plan to forever cheat death, a business owner would be foolish to not prepare for that event.

#3: What happens next?
Questions to consider:

• Do I have a formal succession plan prepared and on file?
• Does my succession plan have a provision for disability?
• Have I involved both family members AND key employees in my succession planning?
• Do I have a disability buy-sell, or overhead expense coverage?
• Do I have contribution protection for my retirement if I were to become disabled?

Again, these eventualities always seem remote on the front end ... but if your answer is "no" to more than a couple of the above questions, it would be a good idea to get in contact with someone competent to help you fix it.

Look for Part 2, with more questions for you...

Warmly,

Janet Behm
Utah Real Estate Accountants
(801) 278-2700