Does it need to go in my Will? Good question! Whether you are an entrepreneur in your 30s with a young family and large mortgage or much further on in life, owning a business or part of one will probably be a worry to you about what happens to it if you suddenly died. 
Without a Will in place, the law of intestacy will decide, so it could pass to someone who has no knowledge or interest in the business whatsoever. It is easy to see that this is could create significant problems in running the business in the best interests of everyone connected with it, e.g. employees and their families.
Whatever type of business you own, you owe it to your employees and their families to deal with this head on. The solution for your business will be easy where you own all of it, but if you co-own shares in a company with others, it will be more complicated to deal with, but if you do not deal with it now, there will be an even bigger problem for those you leave behind, with no plan in place.
If you are co-owner in a business and have no succession plan in place for your shares, they are likely to go to your spouse, or children. The question then is, will the other business co-owners have the money to buy your shares? You can imagine the arguments that will follow over how much they are actually worth! We can solve this problem by helping you put in place a shareholders agreement backed by a life assurance payout on death to the value of your specific shareholding. It is simple and straightforward to do and solves the problem.
Passing down your business should therefore be on your to do list. You will need to carefully consider the value of your share of the business and whether it qualifies for an exemption from inheritance tax under the business property relief rules. There are of course more points to discuss and we would welcome the opportunity to talk to you in more detail.
So when will you get the ball rolling on this? Contact us here to do just that!
