All attorneys and other advisors to business owners are welcome on Buy-Sell Agreements Online.   Business owners are those who own (or control) businesses and those who own minority interests in them.  You work to assist business owners with many things, including their buy-sell agreements.  The businesses we refer to come in many forms, including:

• C Corporations
• S Corporations
• General or Limited Partnerships
• Limited Liability Corporations
• Professional Corporations (or LLCs or Partnerships)

Buy-Sell Agreements Online has been developed to provide information and insights to you as an attorney or business adviser, to develop buy-sell agreements that will accomplish this important goal – providing reasonable resolutions for all future transactions that occur based on them. Virtually all successful businesses of all kinds above with two shareholders have buy-sell agreements.  However, there is a very good chance that the existing buy-sell agreements within your client base will not accomplish this important goal when they are triggered. You may ask a legitimate question at this point: "What makes you think you know enough (or anything at all!) about my clients’ buy-sell agreements to make such a statement.?"  The unfortunate truth is that many, if not most, buy-sell agreements are ticking time bombs and will not provide reasonable resolutions and reasonable transactions.

• Clients with fixed price buy-sell agreements have probably not updated them.
• Clients with formula buy-sell agreements may have an unworkable formula, one that is no longer relevant, or even one that is indecipherable.
• Other clients have buy-sell agreements with a business valuation process to determine the price (process buy-sell agreements).  These may have unclear guidance for appraisers and may fail to provide for their qualifications, or that their work be conducted in accordance with prevailing business valuation standards.  And they likely don’t spell out any agreement concerning the treatment of any life insurance owned by the business on the lives of its owners.

Explore this section of Buy-Sell Agreements Online and find information that will be helpful if you are drafting a new buy-sell agreement or reviewing an existing agreement.  Refer your fellow attorneys, accountants and other financial advisors to this site.  Information here can help them help you with your goal — assuring reasonable resolutions for all future transactions that occur based on your clients’ buy-sell agreements. If you can’t find what you are looking for or have suggestions for additional content on this site, please e-mail Barbara Walters Price at priceb@mercercapital.com and we’ll do our best to update the site as appropriate. Can’t wait?  Order Buy-Sell Agreements: Ticking Time Bombs or Reasonable Resolutions? now.