Buy/sell agreements provide for the transfer of the ownership of the business in different circumstances death, disability, retirement or disagreement. At death or disability, for example, the remaining owners may not want to be in business with the deceased owner’s heirs or the non-active disabled owner. As well, the heirs or disabled owner may prefer to receive the value of the deceased owner’s share of the business in cash. If an owner retires, an agreement paves the way for business as usual. If the owners have a falling out, a buy/sell agreement will enable the business to continue or be “wound up” in an orderly fashion.
A buy/sell agreement should deal with:
- Who will buy the shares;
- What the terms of the sale will be:
- When the sale will take place;
- Where the money to buy the shares will come from; and,
- How much the purchase price of the shares will be.
Proper funding should be in place to ensure that money is available to buy the shares of a deceased or disabled owner, should the event occur. Life insurance provides the necessary dollars at a far lower cost than borrowing to fund a buy-out. Funding the buy-out directly from cash flow can be difficult as the loss of the owner has probably already placed strains on the cash flow of the business. The best alternative is to be prepared with life insurance.
The goal is simple: satisfy all parties so the business can get on with business. Although a buy/sell agreement is a legal document, it still needs to be properly funded. If it isn’t, an unexpected crisis could cause serious financial concerns for the business and its owners. A properly funded buy/sell agreement provides access to adequate funds to facilitate any share purchase obligations contained within the agreement.
Here is a detailed explanation of term life insurance policies.
Term life insurance provides a guaranteed death benefit for a specific number of years.
- 10 Year Term
10 year level term lasts for 10 years with a level premium and a level death benefit.
You also have the option of converting the policy to permanent life insurance such as universal life insurance, variable universal life insurance, variable life insurance or whole life insurance.
- 20 Year Term
The 20 year term policy is one of the most popular term policies available. In any explanation of term life insurance special attention must be paid to this one as it is probably the most liked term policy available.
It has a guaranteed level death benefit for 20 years and also a guaranteed level premium more often than not. Some companies begin with a lower than usual premium which is maintained for 5 or 10 years and increase the premiums thereafter.
