Your Business, Your Responsibility?

You decide to start your own small business. You’ve done the necessary research, and answered these fundamental questions: What to name your business? What products or services will you offer? Who are your customers? Who are your competitors? Will the business be a sole proprietorship? You even created a business plan Steve Jobs and Bill Gates would envy! And now you eagerly await the Grand Opening Day of your Business.

But, have you considered what happens to your business when you retire? Or, become unable to tend to the day-to-day managing of the business due to injury or illness? Or, you (gasp!) die? How will the business – without YOU to lead and manage it – affect your family?

Like all questions business-related, the answers to these questions are complicated. A lot depends on how the business is structured. More depends on how it is financed, and the amount of debt you leave behind. Where the business is headquartered also matters: In Texas, or other community-property state, your spouse may be responsible for your debt.

Sound scary? Not to you, well-informed business owner. You knew to seek out experts to answer these questions: a tax-attorney and an estate-attorney. And, if you didn’t know before, you know now.