Opening your own business can be a daunting proposition. There’s a lot of work in getting a business up and running or in assuming an existing business. You’ll be busy dealing with financing, operations, and marketing. Legal often gets pushed to the back burner.
At M&G, we believe that, as lawyers, we’re not just another expense, but rather an opportunity to ensure that your business grows. We help reduce tax liabilities, navigate paperwork, and, most of all, spot and evaluate hidden risks – especially.
Most businesses find it beneficial to incorporate. Yet making full use of the incorporation process is not always apparent. It is best to always declare at least two classes of shares (voting and non-voting). Depending on your circumstances, you may wish to issue non-dividend paying shares as well. Administering such shares early in your business can result in tax savings if and when your business grows.
It is important to create the operating and borrowing bylaws, as well as to setup and maintain the corporate minute book. These documents are often required whenever the business is involved in loans, refinancing, and sale of shares or assets.
At some future point, you or your partners will want to either transfer ownership or wind up the business. Shareholder’s and partnership agreements set out the expectations between the business owners during the lifespan of the business, including handling disputes and setting out procedures for selling ownership control. It is often much easier to address these issues between owners at the beginning of a business rather than at the end.
Some business arrangements, such as franchise and lease agreements, can involve power imbalances between you and the contracting party. Often such agreements can be tens of pages of carefully worded legal provisions. It’s important to know what you’re signing up for when you enter into such an agreement. Often the agreement contains terms that can be negotiated to save you money, protect your investment, and reduce your overall risk. . It is much better to avoid any legal pitfalls in the first place rather than to have to pay lawyers to get out of them later.
We always provide a free initial consultation to discuss your concerns before being retained. We discuss the pros and cons of retaining a lawyer (sometimes it’s not strictly required), and we offer flat fee options so that you have assurance that your legal bill won’t get out of hand, no matter if the transaction takes an unexpected turn.
We want to be your lawyers for life, and that means doing our best to ensure you succeed.