Resolving Family Disputes Over a Family Business

In a family business, business and personal relationships are intermixed and often times, hard feelings occur. Today and going forward, business succession planning for family-owned businesses is critical. The first concern for family businesses is how to transfer the family business to the next generation without tax liability (later article). The second concern is who should manage the family business as the new President/Chief Executive Officer. Parents often times find it difficult to pick, which son or daughter should take over the family business upon their retirement or death. It is a good idea for a business owner considering retirement to begin making critical succession plans. One of the ideas may be to slowly transfer the adult children into making more critical decisions for the family business. This enables the Parent(s) to determine, which adult child is the better leader and business person. The third concern is how to compensate adult children that are not active in the family business. By active, I mean that do not actively work day by day in the family business. If one adult child is expecting a profit's payment or bonus similar to owning shares of stock/membership interest than their interests contradicts the active adult child's interest. Going forward, it may be best to address this situation and what your concerns are. The key point is it may be better to have an adult child not active in the business inherit life insurance versus the family business. The purpose of this is to avoid family conflicts and create conflicts, which naturally will exists. A good part of estate planning is anticipating family conflicts that may arise and planning to avoid these conflicts.

In conclusion, business transfer planning is critical for family-owned businesses. Business and personal feelings get mixed up and family relationships may it difficult to make key business decisions. Good estate planning can help avoid family conflicts and disputes.

Business Law and Succession Planning

Robertson Law Group, LLC is a wealth preservation law firm concentrating in corporate, estate and business planning, and asset protection law. We also practice in the area of commercial litigation with a concentration in working with new and distressed businesses. We help distressed businesses defend breach of contract lawsuits and provide asset protection advice for the business and shareholder and/or owners. We assist small businesses to incorporate their businesses and draft and counsel small business clients on S corporations, Partnerships, and LLCs. Because we concentrate in asset protection, this is our primary area of expertise. Often times, business owners are improperly structured for growth and liability purposes. We can assist you in buying and selling a business. We can also counsel and draft wills, trusts, and business related documents that protect you, your family, and your business assets. Business transfer and succession planning are critical.

Small Business Law
Drafting and counseling business clients on entity selection;
Drafting LLCs, Partnerships, and S corporations;
Buy sell agreements;
Non-compete agreements and bonus plans;
Business tax planning advice.

Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, and Estate Planning
Drafting Wills, Living Trusts, Irrevocable Trusts;
Powers of Attorney for Property and Healthcare;
Special Needs Planning including OBRA Trusts and Third Party Trusts;
Medicaid planning

Asset Protection and Lawsuit Protection
Drafting Family LLCs and Partnerships for Asset Protection;
Planning against lawsuits and judgments;
Protection of family, vacation, and investment properties along with business assets;
Exemption Planning such as Homestead Exemption Planning, Personal Property exemption planning, and Citations to Discover Assets;
Citation to Discover Assets and Rules to Show Cause Court Proceedings
Defending Breach of Contract and Collection's Matters.

Sean Robertson graduated from DePaul University College of Law in 2003 while working full-time as a paralegal at Katz, Friedman, Eagle, Eisenstein, et al. Sean received his bachelor of science degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in political science. Sean is married to Brenda Robertson and lives in Naperville, Illinois. Sean is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and Chicago Bar Association and Leading the Way-Naperville Leads Group. Sean can be reached at 630-364-2318 or 312-498-6080. Sean also can be reached via RobertsonLawGroup@gmail.com or www.RobertsonLawGroup.com.

Keywords: Naperville business attorney, Lisle, Downers Grove, Plainfield, Entrepreneurial Attorney, Asset Protection, Wills and Trusts, Estate Planning, LLC Attorney, Incorporation Attorney.