Business Succession 1/2: Power of Attorney for Your Business

This is the second installment of the HOB series “Succession” summary and takeaway.

The theme of this episode was the Power of Attorney for business succession planning.

This episode was all about who would step in and run the company while the patriarch was out of commission with a stroke.

It was also about who would be making decision regarding his medical care (this was quickly resolved with the wife – not the mother of the children – stepping in and waiving a health care power of attorney and shutting everyone down).

The show’s focus was a little different than the topic of this episode and blog post because there was a corporate structure in place – a board who would make the decision about who would run the company.

But absent a board (if you are an LLC for example), a power of attorney is going to give you a lot of protection and control if you ever find yourself disabled.

You can have a power of attorney for your regular life (that a spouse might hold) and a separate power of attorney just for your business.

Why would you want to do this?

Maybe your spouse doesn’t know anything about your business.

Maybe they are not qualified to run it (for example, a non-lawyer cannot run a law firm).

Maybe there is someone else involved in the business who could keep it running and viable until you were back on your feet.

In any event, business succession planning starts with a Power of Attorney. If you don’t have one you are taking a huge risk.

See you next week for a recap of episode 3!

Cheers.

Christopher Small

If you have any more questions or think you might want some help, click the link below to schedule a phone or in person strategy session. Looking forward to it! https://cmslawfirm.com/scheduleasession