Business Planning

The best estate plan is a business plan. At the Sheffield Law Office, we believe that estate planning and business planning go hand-in-hand.

Sometimes that means using business structures like Family Limited Partnerships or Limited Liability Companies to fractionalize the ownership of property. This allows our clients to reduce taxes on the transfer of wealth and provides enhanced asset protection.

In addition, we find that many of our clients are active business owners whose personal wealth is directly tied to a family business. For both kinds of clients, we offer strategies that include:

• Entity choice and creation
  Choosing the right kind of entity (i.e., S corporation, C corporation, LLC) can be crucial in giving our clients the best asset protection and tax advantages.
• Maintaining and updating corporate records
  Failing to maintain corporate records or file reports in a timely manner can cost business owners the asset protection they have so wisely put in place. By providing this service for our clients, we ensure they do not lose their corporate shield (or limited liability protection) dube to an oversight.

Estate planning and business planning should go hand-in-hand.

• Buy-Sell agreements
  A good Buy-Sell agreement creates a plan for the business in the event a co-owner dies, becomes disabled, retires, or leaves the business for any reason. Without a Buy-Sell agreement, you may be in partnership with your co-owner’s spouse or children when he or she dies.