Succession
Acorns: succession for owners
Live oaks drop acorns for years before one takes. A company’s next owner takes planning too. We help owners decide who that is, write it down and leave time to make it work.
Succession is rarely one document. It’s a buy-sell agreement between the partners, a plan for selling to managers or family, and a timetable that fits the owner’s retirement and the company’s cash. We write ours beside the owner’s accountant and estate lawyer, so the three plans agree.
What succession planning covers
Buy-sell agreements
What happens to an owner’s share when they leave, retire, divorce or die, and how the price is set.
Sales to managers and employees
A sale over time, often with the seller financing part of the price and staying on to train.
Family transfers
Passing the company to children or relatives, with a plan for the ones who work in it and the ones who don’t.
Partner exits
A partner who wants out, written so the company keeps running while the buyout is paid.
Questions owners ask about succession
When should I start?
Five years before you’d like to step back is comfortable. Two is workable. The fewer years left, the fewer ways there are to sell.
Do I need a valuation?
You need a way to set a price everyone accepts. That can be an appraisal, a formula in the agreement or a price the partners update every year.
Will this replace my will?
No. We work with your estate lawyer so your will and the company’s papers point the same way.