Have you thought about what happens to your business when you're no longer around? Watch our short video on business succession planning to learn more.

No time to watch the video? Read the transcript instead!

Everything is going great; Your business is flying and all in the garden is rosey.

You are naturally proud of the success you have gained from a lifetime of hard work and the value your business now has. But, occasionally, thoughts about what the future holds begin to swirl around your head: Do I sell the business and leave the cash to my family? Do I pass business over my children to run, whilst I start to enjoy my retirement? Do I keep the business in my name until death? 

Whatever your decision, you will need some expert advice to be able to put the correct strategies in place and ensure that your business assets are properly structured, to gain the maximum advantage for you and your family. 

However, once in place, these medium to long term strategies can still go wrong. What if – BHAM! – tragically, right out of the blue, you die. What happens now? 

Well, that depends. Even if you have a Will which includes your business and have bequeathed this to your spouse or Partner and then to your children, this now means that the business becomes part of their own Estate. Now it’s at risk, possibly even ending up somewhere you hadn’t intended, and so that beautiful rose garden you cultivated over the years, might well be destroyed. 

For example, what happens if you die, leaving all your assets to your current spouse or Partner and then remarry? Now your money could be bequeathed to their new spouse and their children, reducing the amount that your own children receive. 

Worse still, if your surviving Partner dies, their new Partner could end up getting all of your money and could even write your children out of the Will totally. Not exactly what you had in mind. 

Let’s assume all goes well and your children do actually inherit everything; thinks can still go wrong. Suppose your child marries and then later, divorces. Their ex-Partner could be entitled to half of your money. Are you happy with that? 

Or they could hit financial difficulties and your bequest could be wiped out by Creditors or even bankruptcy. 

Even before you die, if you don’t plan carefully you could lose your hard earned savings, and even your home, paying for care costs in your senior years. The result? More cash for the State and less cash to pass on to your children. 

Thinking about your business succession, and having a Company Will in place now, will ensure that what you have built with a lifetime’s hard work will stay with you, your children, your grandchildren and all the generations to come.