Living the Dream - Selling a Business (the Prequel)
It’s time for a change - - You’ve owned your business for years, created it from scratch, weathered the bad times, grown during the good times and now you want to try something new -- 54 holes of golf a week or fishing whenever you please. So what now? When considering selling your business, there are four important steps you will want to take:
1. Decide what financial terms will be acceptable to you;
2. If you will receive any funds from the continued operation of the business after the sale, do your due diligence on the purchaser – both the reputation and the business experience;
3. Determine any contingencies that may be appropriate (i.e., things that must occur before you will be required to finalize the sale); and
4. All transaction details and contingency items should be carefully drafted into a written document executed by all parties to the transaction.
We’ll go over each of those important steps in greater detail over the next few days. For information on the tax impact of selling a business see Sale of a Business and for business and tax assistance with the sale of a business contact Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A., a full-service law firm with offices located in Jacksonville and Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
