Many business owners want to run their businesses for the rest of their lives. This is praiseworthy. It reflects the fortitude that we hard workers hope to maintain in our older years. In what some interpret as an anti-retirement poem, Dylan Thomas wrote:
However laudable this goal is, it generates a problem: If the owner dies or suddenly becomes ill, their family might be forced to sell their business. Without its owner at the helm, the business might deteriorate quickly, resulting in the family being forced to sell at a depressed price.
A “Business Will” encompasses legal documents that would execute the following steps on a contractually greed-upon timeline initiating upon the earliest of (a) your authorization, (b) your designee’s authorization if you are alive but unable to give authorization, and (c) your death:
Upfront Fees
Total upfront fees = $7,000
Annual Fee
Total annual fees for 23 years = $2,875
Sale Fee
Estimated total fees, including upfront fees, 23 years of annual fees, and sale fees: $208,775 at a purchase price of $3.75m, which is 5.5% of the purchase price.