Happy small business month! We are continuing our two-part business owner blog series to inform spouses what they should know if they are married to a business owner.
If your spouse is a business owner, do you know what you need to know to be able to run the business in the event of an emergency? Do you have the authority to write checks to keep the business going? Do you know who the key people are in the business that you can trust to keep the business operating? Do you know if you are going to sell the business or keep it going or do you want to keep it going? Do you know the passwords needed to access vital information? Do you have any inclination to run the business after your spouse has passed away or is incapacitated, or do you just want to figure out the best way to sell it so your family is cared for through the financial gain you receive through the sale?
These are some of the questions that you need to discuss and review during an estate planning meeting as these are the questions that you’re going to need answers for if your spouse is a business owner and dies or becomes incapacitated. The answers to these questions will allow you, as the surviving spouse, to have a fighting chance of keeping the business operating and to retain its value without being totally overwhelmed. If you’re anything like some of the small business owner couples we’ve talked to, you may have already asked your business owner spouse these questions, and they may have responded, “We’ve talked about this,” when in reality you do not feel confident that you know what you need to. Because your spouse is so absorbed in the day-to-day operations of the business and is an expert of the business, at times the knowledge and authority needed to run a business becomes invisible to them since they have been doing this by themselves for years and are on autopilot doing it.
At the Family Estate Planning Law Group, we have an estate planning process and interview system to slow the business owner down and walk through the steps that will need to be taken in the event the business owner dies or is incapacitated. In essence, we reverse engineer the estate planning process by simply stating what needs to happen or what needs to be done when your spouse is not there. We then make sure that you have the legal authority to act when your spouse cannot and that you will be able to write checks, sign contracts on behalf of the business, and work with key employees to ensure that the business either continues generating income for you and your family or remains operating and profitable so it can be sold for its highest value, thus providing for you through the financial gain of the sale. If you and your spouse would like to explore this kind of planning, we’d love to set up a complimentary consultation with you!