Florham Park, NJ – John E. Ursin, Partner at Schenck, Price, Smith & King LLP was recently a guest on 90.3 WHPC’s ‘Law You Should Know’ with Host Kenneth J. Landau.

In a wide-ranging interview, Ursin addressed the importance of succession planning even in the early stages of a company. Ursin stated, “Anytime someone starts a business, obviously they have hopes for success in the business. They most often think about the dangers, the liabilities, the failure of the business. Everybody knows a high percentage of businesses fail within the first 10 years. Maybe it’s about 65%. So, owners think about the failing part of the business quite a bit.”

He continued, “When you have success, the business grows, it becomes more valuable, it’s then succession planning becomes more important.” Ursin emphasized that it is never too early to start planning for an exit or transition.

Ursin discussed best things to do to stay ahead of the times when running a business. “I think you could really be thinking about this in terms of the early cycle of businesses, we talk about pre-retirement issues often referenced as the 5Ds: death, disability, divorce, disagreement or distress. Early in the cycle, as a business is growing and increasing in value, we try to counsel our clients on to plan for these events and it is often addressed in a buy-sell agreement.”

The interview also covered the later cycle of a business, including selling the business to a peer company, private equity, or key employees; or passing the business to a child through good estate planning.

To listen to the episode in its entirety, please click here: https://bit.ly/4hbCsU1