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Roles of the Attorney in the Seven Step Exit Planning Process
Steps 1 and 2
- Assist in determining appropriate type of valuation
- Help select valuation advisor depending on owner's objective (sale to third party or transfer to insiders)
- Evaluate methods of reducing business value (eg. Unfunded Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plan)
- Opportunity:
- Provide new services and value to existing clients
Step 3
- Provide legal and practical advice in regards to possible recommendations
- Identify tools to protect business value during periods of growing or flat performance
- Analyze federal and state law implications of proposed strategies
- Opportunity:
- Meet with client, typically 3-15 hours
- Draft summaries of recommended documents, as well as final documents
- Fees typically range from $5,000 to $50,000
Step 4
- Prepare draft of Stay Bonus, incentive plans and employment agreements
- Tax analysis related to the proposed sale of company
- Legal Due Diligence
- Preparation and review of all transaction documents
- Opportunity:
- Representation of owner/business in sale (generating fees of $30,000 to $150,000)
- Respond to post-closing indemnification claims
Step 5
- Analyze legal issues related to proposed transactions (state law, federal law, tax law, compliance with existing documents)
- Draft summaries of proposed agreements
- Draft and implement agreements and other documents implementing transfer/s
- Draft documents providing incentives to key employees not receiving ownership
- Opportunity:
- Generate revenue from creation of documents that implement one or more ownership transfers. (Generally fees not less than $5,000 and up to $25,000)
- Ongoing consulting fee income and continuation of business representation through ownership transition
- Continued representation of business after the successor owner taker control
- Generate fees on a flat or hourly basis for document drafting, implementation and follow-up
Step 6
- Prepare business and estate planning documents
- Prepare Stay Bonus Agreement
- Assist owner in positioning business to operate independently if owners is unable to remain involved
- Opportunity:
- Prepare business continuity documents (Fee generally between $3,000 and $7,500)
- Implementation of documents and agreements if a death or disability occurs
Step 7
- Perform overall estate planning
- Revise and update estate plan as circumstances change
- Coordinate planning for business and non-business assets when a child is the proposed successor owner
- Educate owner on structure and function of estate planning strategies
- Transfer business interests to children prior to a third party sale
- Create related entities to be partly owned by children
- Perform charitable income/estate tax planning
- Suggest and/or confirm recommendations made by the Certified Exit Planner(CExP)TM
- Opportunity:
- Collect fees for creating and updating estate planning documents (Fees generally between $5,000 and $25,000)
- Collect hourly fees for family meetings to explain planning to beneficiaries
- Collect probate and estate administration fees
- Manage personal asset protection and transfers