Business Succession Planning
Business Succession Planning in Las Vegas
More Than 50 Years of Combined Estate Planning & Probate Experience
Business succession planning determines who can manage the company, who can receive or purchase its ownership interests, and what can happen if an owner retires, becomes incapacitated, dies, or chooses to sell. The plan should account for both anticipated transitions and events that occur without warning.
At Bowler Twitchell, LLP, we advise Las Vegas business owners using our experience in estate planning, probate, business law, and real estate law. We review company documents, ownership interests, real estate holdings, and the owner’s personal estate plan as connected parts of the transition.
Call (702) 703-6998 to schedule a free initial consultation about your company’s ownership transition.
Choose a Transition Path for Your Business
The appropriate path depends on the owner’s goals, the governing documents, and the people prepared to manage or acquire the company. Management authority and economic ownership may pass to different people, making it important to define each role clearly.
Common transition paths include:
- Family transfer: Transferring some or all ownership interests to children or other relatives.
- Co-owner buyout: Giving remaining owners an opportunity or obligation to purchase a departing owner’s interest.
- Employee purchase: Structuring a sale to one or more key employees.
- Outside sale: Preparing to transfer the company to an unrelated buyer.
- Orderly wind-down: Addressing company obligations and asset disposition when continued operation isn’t the chosen path.
The necessary decisions and documents vary among limited liability companies, corporations, partnerships, professional entities, and other business structures. The plan may address transfer restrictions, purchase rights, management authority, and the timing and terms of the transition.
How Buy-Sell Agreements Govern Ownership Transitions
A buy-sell agreement establishes what happens to an owner’s interest after a specified event. Depending on its terms, the agreement may apply to retirement, incapacity, death, withdrawal, or another event chosen by the owners.
Key provisions may address:
- Triggering events: The circumstances that activate purchase or transfer rights.
- Eligible purchasers: The company, remaining owners, family members, employees, or other approved parties.
- Valuation procedure: The process for establishing the interest’s value, including an agreed formula or appraisal process.
- Purchase terms: The payment structure, timing, and obligations assigned to each party.
- Ownership restrictions: Consent requirements, rights of first refusal, and limits on transfers to third parties.
For a Nevada corporation, stock transfer restrictions may appear in governing documents or agreements and create consent requirements or purchase opportunities. For a Nevada limited liability company, the operating agreement can govern the admission of new members, transfers of membership interests, and succession after an owner’s death. The applicable provisions depend on the entity type, existing documents, and circumstances of the transition.
Coordinate the Succession Plan With Your Estate Plan
Company documents and personal planning instruments shouldn’t direct the same interest in conflicting ways. We review operating agreements, shareholder agreements, trust provisions, wills, beneficiary designations, and real estate ownership together.
That coordinated review may cover:
- Whether the intended successor can receive the interest under the governing documents.
- Whether the person receiving economic value will also have management authority.
- How business real estate is titled and whether it transfers with the operating company.
- Whether beneficiary designations align with the planned transition.
- How incapacity documents address authority over business decisions.
Trust planning should fit the company’s structure and the owner’s broader objectives. We provide guidance involving Nevada Asset Protection Trusts and self-settled spendthrift trusts when those tools are relevant.
Russell Bowler’s background includes service as an adjunct professor of business law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas College of Business.
Integrated Business, Real Estate & Estate Planning Guidance
Bowler Twitchell, LLP has served clients since 2000. Our work across business law, real estate law, estate planning, and probate allows us to consider the documents and assets involved without treating the company as separate from the owner’s personal plan.
Clients also receive:
- Prompt communication and personalized legal assistance.
- Bilingual Spanish services.
- Free initial consultations.
- Counsel from attorneys whose honors include selections to Super Lawyers® and Rising Stars, as well as Martindale-Hubbell peer review.
Plan Your Next Ownership Transition
Whether you’re considering retirement, a family transfer, a partner buyout, or a business sale, we can identify the management, estate planning, and document coordination issues that need attention. We serve business owners in Las Vegas and throughout Nevada.
Call (702) 703-6998 to schedule a free initial consultation with our attorneys.
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A+ Rating from the Better Business Bureau
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Selected for Inclusion in the list of Super Lawyers®
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Reputable & Law-Abiding Law Firm
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We provide insight and guidance regarding every aspect of estate planning.
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We will always give you the personalized attention you deserve.
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We will make your case our top priority.
