Business Succession Planning
A plan for what happens to the business when ownership changes, by choice, or not.
Most business owners spend enormous energy building something valuable. Far fewer build a plan for what happens to it when they’re done. That gap, between the value built and the plan for what comes next, is where businesses get complicated, families get hurt, and outcomes get determined by default rather than by design.
Business succession planning is the work of deciding, deliberately, what happens to the business: Who takes over leadership? How is ownership transferred? What happens if the transition is unexpected, illness, death, disability, or a forced exit? What’s the business worth, and how does that translate into financial security for the owner and their family? How does the business structure need to change to support the succession?
These questions overlap with estate planning, and they need to be answered in coordination with it. A will or trust that doesn’t address the business interest, or a buy-sell agreement that contradicts the estate plan, creates the exact problems that succession planning is supposed to prevent. Victoria handles business succession planning in coordination with the broader estate plan, ensuring both are built toward the same outcome.
For businesses with multiple owners, succession planning also involves what happens when one owner exits, whether by retirement, buyout, death, or dispute. The buy-sell agreement is the governing document here, and it needs to address valuation methodology, funding mechanisms (life insurance, installment payments, company buyback), and the trigger events that activate it. Most businesses have some version of this agreement. Fewer have one that has been reviewed recently or that actually reflects current ownership structure and business value.
Victoria brings M&A and transaction experience to succession planning that most estate planning attorneys don’t have. She understands how businesses are valued, how ownership transitions work structurally, and what buyers, family members, and co-owners actually need from a succession plan that works.
When to reach out
Earlier than feels necessary. Succession planning is most effective, and most flexible, before any transition is imminent. If ownership, health, or business circumstances have changed since the last review, that's also the right time.
Talk with Victoria