Buy-Sell Agreements
The contract that governs what happens when an owner leaves, retires, or dies. It locks in who can buy the shares, at what price, and on what terms, so a co-owner's exit never turns into a fight or an unwanted new partner.
Succession & Buy-Sell Planning
Plan the handoff before you need it.
Most business owners are too busy running their company to plan their exit from it. A succession plan lays out who will take over the business, on what terms, and at what price. Planning the handoff in advance helps prevent a retirement, a buyout, or a sudden loss from putting the whole business at risk.
Why Plan the Exit Now
The best time to plan is while nothing is wrong.
A succession plan works best when it's written long before anyone needs it.
In a closely-held company, the owner often is the business: they have all the key relationships, know-how, and signing authority. Without a formal succession plan, a key person's retirement, an unexpected death, or a dispute between partners can put major business decisions in the hands of people who are unprepared, grieving, or in conflict.
Putting your plan in writing answers the big questions about how you want to pass your business on to future ownership:
- Who takes over: a co-owner, a family member, a key employee, or an outside buyer.
- What shares of the business are worth and how the price gets set.
- How a buyout is funded, whether through installments, insurance, or sale proceeds.
- What triggers a transfer of ownership, whether a planned retirement or sale, or an unexpected event such as death, disability, or divorce.
The Transition Process
From owner-dependent to transfer-ready.
Building a succession plan begins with understanding your business and your goals to help choose the right path to your exit. We draft and help execute your plan to take the guesswork out of how the business will pass on to future owners.
Map the Business and the Goal
Introduction
We start with your desired outcome: sell the business, hand it down to family, or transfer ownership to a partner or employee. Then we look at the ownership structure, the other stakeholders, and the gaps that would stall a transfer today.
Choose the Exit Path
Strategy
We match the right vehicle to your goal, whether that's a buy-sell agreement among owners, a gradual ownership transfer, or positioning for an outside sale. We coordinate with your accountant and financial advisor so the tax and funding pieces line up.
Draft and Fund the Documents
About 2 to 3 weeks
We draft the agreements that make the plan binding: the valuation method, the trigger events, the payment terms, and the transfer mechanics. We also confirm the buyout is actually funded, not just promised on paper.
Execute and Revisit
Ongoing
We coordinate signatures among all owners and parties involved, and distribute the finalized documents to everyone who needs a copy. We also conduct a periodic review to help keep the plan current as the business' stakeholders and enterprise value change, and your goals evolve over time.
How We Help
The elements of a complete succession plan.
Succession is rarely achieved with one document. We assemble the pieces that fit your business to ensure the transfer is binding, funded, and priced fairly when the day comes.
Ownership Transfer
Structured handoffs to a family member, partner, or key employee, whether all at once or in phases. We build the transfer so control and value move on your timeline, with the tax treatment worked out alongside your accountant.
Exit Strategies
A plan for the way you actually want to leave, from a third-party sale to a gradual wind-down. We position the company to be transfer-ready so you exit on your terms instead of whatever terms a crisis dictates.
Valuation Coordination
A buyout is only as good as the price behind it. We set a clear valuation method in the documents and coordinate with the appraisers and advisors who put a defensible number on the business, so no one is guessing what a share is worth.
What Triggers a Transfer
Plan for the exits you don't choose.
A good succession plan covers both a planned exit and an unplanned one.
Each of these events can lead to a sudden and dramatic change in your business' ownership:
- A planned retirement or a voluntary sale of an owner's stake.
- The death of an owner.
- A disability that keeps an owner from running their part of the business.
- A divorce, bankruptcy, or dispute.
A buy-sell agreement decides in advance who steps in and how the departing owner (or their estate) gets paid.
“You spent years building something worth keeping. A succession plan is how you make sure it outlasts any one owner, including you.”
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Keep the company legally sound: filings, governance, and regulatory checkups before small gaps become problems.
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Buy or sell with confidence: due diligence, deal structure, and closings for small and mid-size Ohio businesses.
Learn moreCommon Questions
Succession planning questions, straight answers.
A succession plan is the full strategy for moving the business to its next owner. A buy-sell agreement is the binding contract that carries out a key part of it: who can buy an owner's interest, at what price, and on what terms when a trigger event happens. Most closely-held companies need both.
Yes, and arguably more so. With no co-owner to step in, a sudden absence can stall payroll, lose key relationships, and leave your family with a business they can't legally run or sell. A plan names a successor or a path to sale and gives someone the authority to act when you can't.
We set the valuation method in the agreement itself rather than leaving it to chance. That can be a formula, a periodic appraisal, or a process the owners agree to follow. We coordinate with appraisers and your financial advisor so the number is defensible and the buyout is funded, not just promised.
We focus on transactions, not litigation. A well-drafted succession plan is the best protection against a fight, because it answers the hard questions before emotions run high. If a matter needs a litigator, we refer you to one we trust.
Revisit it after any major change in ownership, value, or your goals, and otherwise every few years. The successor or price that made sense before may not fit today, and updates are straightforward when the framework is already in place.
We scope the plan to your business and price it up front. We build your succession plan for a flat fee, quoted before any work begins, so you're never surprised by an hourly bill. Call (440) 613-0439 for a free introduction.