Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Buy-Sell Agreements: A Conversation With Expert and Author Paul Hood
Buy-Sell Agreements and Their Place in an Asset Protection Plan
Spring is soon upon us. March Madness is at our doorstep. The Formula 1 season is underway. Baseball season will be in full swing shortly. And my allergies are already in bloom....more
Across all industries, family offices and their owners and management teams face rapidly evolving challenges, opportunities, and risks in the dynamic environment that is 2025. Here are six issues that family offices should...more
Across all industries, private companies, family offices, and their owners and management teams face rapidly evolving challenges, opportunities, and risks in the dynamic environment that is 2025. Here are 11 issues that...more
Success is not just an elusive goal – it can also be difficult to maintain once achieved. For majority owners in private companies, achieving success is just the first hurdle, because once they arrive at this pinnacle, they...more
During Valentine’s Day month, we are taking a look at 50-50 owned private businesses. Forming a co-owned company may sound like a good idea on paper because the two partners are close friends or family members who are making...more
With apologies to the pseudonymous children’s book author Watty Piper, this is the story of a humble buy-sell provision in a family-owned LLC’s operating agreement that temporarily ran out of steam in the lower court, only to...more
The best way to be sure that your thoughtful estate planning will work as anticipated when the time comes is to walk through it with your planning attorney, from the viewpoint of a person beginning the task of administrating...more
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Connelly v. United States, that the valuation of a decedent’s shares in a closely held corporation for federal estate tax purposes must include insurance proceeds received...more
The era of the old-fashioned general partnership long ago petered out, largely displaced by subchapter S corporations and, in the last few decades, limited liability companies, both of which allow pass-through taxation...more
On June 6, 2024, the Supreme Court held 9-to-0 in Connelly v. United States that company-owned life insurance increases the company’s fair market value for estate tax purposes, and the company’s obligation to redeem a...more
Thoughtful succession planning can pave the way for a smooth transition and a thriving future for a company and its stakeholders. Here are a few techniques that business owners should consider....more
On April 18, join Winstead attorneys Trip Dyer, Ben Gehlbach, Daniel Bell-Garcia, Jacob Loehr, Matt Dzura, and Cole Gearhart, along with Whitley Penn Partner Shea Krachek, for our Real Estate Startup half-day virtual seminar....more
When business owners have partners and consider their succession planning, the topic of a buy-sell agreement comes up. This post discusses the possible use of an “insurance-only LLC” as part of a buy-sell....more
The “Great Resignation” as it has been called reflects the large number of employees leaving the traditional workforce, and many of those departing employees are leaving hourly or salaried positions to start their own new...more
David F. Johnson co-presented “Minority Investor Rights in Private Companies: Buy-Sell Agreements, Court-Ordered Buyouts, Breach of Fiduciary Duty” for a nationwide audience for Stafford Webinars on January 20, 2021. David...more
Under both New York and Delaware law, members of an LLC may petition for judicial dissolution on the grounds that the management is so hopelessly deadlocked that the LLC can no longer function in accordance with its purpose...more
One of the more attractive features of LLCs as a business organization is that they are, in large part, creatures of contract. Most provisions in the NY LLC Law are default rules, and members are free to adopt those or...more
I’m very pleased to present my 13th annual list of the past year’s ten most significant business divorce cases. This year’s list includes important appellate and trial court decisions in New York and Delaware on a...more
When the management of a closely held business is controlled equally by two owners, it’s wise both to anticipate possible deadlock over major decisions and to provide in the constitutive documents a deadlock breaking...more
As regular readers of the blog surely are aware, there are few provisions in an LLC or shareholders agreement more likely to be the focus of dispute than the buy-sell provision. Most times, these disputes expose a flaw in the...more
Our previous posts have stressed the critical importance of buy-sell agreements for both majority owners and minority investors in private companies. For majority owners, securing a buy-sell agreement avoids the potential of...more
Three recent court decisions from three different states — New York, Pennsylvania, and Alabama — add to the rogue’s gallery of valuation cases stemming from poorly conceived and/or poorly implemented buy-sell agreements among...more
At least on paper, shotgun provisions in shareholder and operating agreements provide an elegant and efficient buy-out solution when business owners can’t get along and need a divorce. In a two-owner company, the one who...more
Why do you need a Buy-Sell Agreement for your closely held company? In a nutshell, your business partner might die, become disagreeable, or just simply lose his or her mind, and you need a set of rules to resolve the matter....more
Shareholders, Partners and/or LLC members of any closely-held or family-held company should check the buy-sell formula contained in their Shareholder Agreement (sometimes called a Buy-Sell Agreement), Partnership Agreement or...more