Small Business Law

Silicon Valley Small Business Attorneys

We serve as General Counsel for all kinds of Small Businesses: Start-ups, Mature Companies, Family Businesses, and those thinking about Exit Strategies. Far more than just legal documents, we provide comprehensive advice that will allow your business to Grow and Thrive, while protecting your Family’s estate from creditors or lawsuits.

Legal Counsel for Startups

Whether you are a brand new business just getting off the ground, or an existing sole proprietor who is concerned about protecting their family’s assets from lawsuit, the most important decision is how to choose the right entity for your business.

How to Choose the Right Entity for Your Business

For new business owners – and owners of sole proprietorships who have been in business for some time – no issue is more critical that choosing the correct entity for your business.

The right business entity can help protect your family and your life’s savings from lawsuits brought against your business, and can help your business run more smoothly and tax efficiently.

Corporations

Since the Middle Ages, the concept of the corporation has existed to shield business owners and investors from personal liability for the obligations of their business. There are three primary types of corporations, click on a link to learn more about each.

The C Corporation     The S Corporation     Professional Corporations

The Limited Liability Company

What if there were a business entity designed primarily for smaller businesses, which meshed the limited liability of a corporation with the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship?

The good news: there is!  It’s called a The Limited Liability Company.

Partnerships

For many businesses, where two or more people are involved, the partnership format is the proper entity for their business.

 Corporations

The C Corporation

The S Corporation

Professional Corporations

The Limited Liability Company (LLC)

Growth Strategies for Mature Companies

Mature Businesses

Many owners who have been in business for many years find themselves doing business much the same way that they did in their first year.  They have mastered tactical issues – how to produce their product or service – but have not mastered the strategic issues – the best way to structure their business to maximize profit, and eventually how to sell their business for top dollar.

Buy Sell Agreements

Many business owners don’t realize that if their business partner dies, they may be going into business with their spouse and children.  A buy-sell agreement deals with many of the key issues in business succession planning, including setting the terms and price by which one owner may buy out another, due to incapacity or death.

Key Man Life Insurance Agreements

Selling Your Business

For most business owners, the majority of the funds they will live on during retirement will come not from deferred savings plans (i.e. IRA’s or 401k’s), but from the proceeds from the sale of their business. Designing the right Exit Strategy is critical, therefore, to ensuring you will have enough money to live on during retirement, and to pass on to your children and beneficiaries.

Exit Strategies for Business Owners

Whether you sell your business for the maximum value possible, or whether you are forced to sell it off at fire-sale prices, depends on way you prepare your business for transition.

Proper planning takes months, if not years, in order to maximize the selling price.

Leaving it to the last minute virtually guarantees the lowest return possible.

Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)

One of the most attractive ways for a Business Owner to sell his business is through a qualified plan such as an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

An ESOP is a way for an owner to sell his founders stock to his employees, and allows them to use pre-tax dollars to purchase their interest in the company. Combined with tax savings when the owner takes advantage of certain Internal Revenue Code provisions, and selling your business to an ESOP may be the most tax-advantaged sale you could make.

Click the link to Read More about Employee Stock Ownership Plans

Additional Articles on Selling Your Business:

Don’t Overlook Form 8594 When Buying or Selling a Business

Leave Your Business to Your Family – Not the Government 

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