Estate Planning and Asset Protection for Business Owners

At the Obi Law Group, we believe business ownership is one of the most important ways to build generational wealth for families and their communities. Estate planning is critical for everyone, especially business owners and professionals. Business owners should always make proper asset protection and legacy planning strategies a priority.  Through the right combination of wills, trusts, business entities and advance directives, The attorneys at the Obi Law Group can craft a comprehensive estate plan that meets your present and future needs and leaves a lasting legacy for future generations. Below is a snapshot of our representative services.

• Wills & Trusts
• Buy-Sell Agreements
• Business Succession Plan
• Asset Protection
• Power of Attorney
• Probate

Our Kentucky Estate Planning Attorneys Will Draft Your Will Preserve Your Legacy

Every estate plan should have a will at its foundation. Through this document, we help you name an executor for your estate, appoint a guardian for any minor children you may have, and make specific gifts of your personal property to family members, friends and charities as you see fit. If you are transferring most of your property through a revocable living trust, we make sure and include a “pour-over” provision in your will so that any property which may have been overlooked or acquired later will be transferred to the appropriate trust and delivered to your intended beneficiaries.

Our Attorneys Establish Revocable Living Trusts to Help You Avoid Probate While Meeting Your Goals. 

Trusts are popular vehicles for transferring property outside of probate, which means your assets are transferred to your beneficiaries faster and with less expense then the traditional process of estate administration. Another advantage of the trust is that it is a private document, so nobody knows the contents of your estate or how you are distributing it unless you decide to tell them. In general, trusts are harder to challenge or contest than wills, as well. We can help you establish and fund revocable living trusts, as well as other types of trusts to address special needs of minor or adult children, or to achieve significant tax savings for you, your heirs and beneficiaries.

Business Succession Planning

A proper business succession plan is a document that’s used to outline who will take over the business in  your absence, incapacity or death. When building out your long-term risk management and business strategies, there are a number of scenarios to consider when creating a succession plan.

First, ask yourself who would run the  business if something happened and you became incapacitated. If you’re  in a serious car accident, for example, would a business partner or family member be able to step in to keep things running?

Second, consider what will happen to the business if you decide to retire. Depending on how the business has been structured, you could do any of the following:

• Pass the business on to another family member
• Sell your ownership share to your partner(s), or investors
• Sell the business to a third-party buyer
• Close it down/wind it up

Finally, think about the planning necessary in the event you pass away. In that situation, the options may be similar to those for your retirement planning.

A solid business succession plan should cover all three so that there’s no confusion about what happens  to the business if you’re not there to run it. It should also include  contingencies for helping employees make the transition and training  your successors in how the business is run, if necessary.

Call the Obi Law Group at 502-309-2512 and let us help you build and protect your legacy.