Our family business clients trust us to help them every step of the way. From setting up their entities properly, to managing the day to day, and then helping prepare for a transition to the next generation, our attorneys have experience helping through each step. Our dedicated team helps family business owners develop and execute their plan, so that the whole process runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Here are just a few of our success stories –
Family Business Planning:
Many of our clients come from long lines of farmers and ranchers who have operated their businesses the same way for many generations with little attention paid to the “legal” aspects of their operations. We help clients separate their real and personal property interests into separate entities in order to maximize protection of all assets and to minimize risk of loss in the event of an accident or lawsuit. This planning also provides for the eventual transfer of a smaller/lower valued operating entity to family at a lower cost to future generations.
We also understand that not every member of a family wants to actively participate in the day to day operations required in farming and ranching and are able to create plans for those family members to still benefit from the family business without the daily decision making and control. All of these things help ensure the successful future of the family business for many generations to come.
Family Office Support:
The day to day operations of a business can be uneventful, and Hinkle helps to make sure that is the case for your family business as well. We help clients with everyday sales agreements, buying and selling of properties, yearly tax planning and valuations, and minute book maintenance. Clients look to us to take these tasks off their plates so they are able to focus on growing the business they’ve worked so hard to build. The support we offer gives our clients confidence to expand the reach of their current endeavors, start new ventures, or groom the next generation for eventual ownership, all while having the peace of mind that their business is taken care of.
Succession Planning:
Our client built his aircraft machine shop from the ground up and was starting to think about transferring his business and retiring. Hinkle helped him identify a key person within the company and put together a plan for that person to, one day, purchase the business and take over. One month later the owner unexpectedly passed away. Because of the pre-planning the owner had undertaken, the business transitioned smoothly to the key person and the burden was taken from the original owner’s family.
Hinkle is able to make sure that the operations of your business are efficient for tax purposes and maximum asset protection. We can help create rules of ownership for existing owners, classes of permissible owners, and plans to address transfer of ownership on the occurrence of any one of a number of life events such as death, disability, divorce, or a voluntary or forced sale. Hinkle can help give you the peace of mind that the business you worked so hard to build will continue on when the expected, and unexpected, occurs.
Exit Planning:
Hinkle has numerous clients who own small businesses in various stages of the business life-cycle. Recently, we had a client looking to sell their business and another looking to purchase the same type of business. We were able to put those two owners together for a successful transaction.
We have helped medical doctors looking to retire find buyers for their practice, and small businesses in the aircraft industry and manufacturing industry sell to larger companies for maximum value. Hinkle is able to provide all the tools necessary to get a company across the goal line – we start with one of our in-house CPA’s performing a valuation of the company, we assist in finding buyers, we provide support for negotiations and prepare the necessary documents. It is our goal to provide maximum value to our clients so they can get maximum value for their years of hard work building their business.
