I was talking with a friend of mine the other day – she had called with a concern about her business. She is a co-owner in a retail store that’s been doing really well. She and her business partner get along and see eye to eye on most things. When they started the business together about 5 years ago they took all the right steps and that included setting up a buy sell agreement. That agreement spelled out what would happen if one of the owners died or terminated employment.

So, what was her concern? Her business partner had recently become ill and was having a hard time coming to work every day. They agreed that they needed to hire a part timer to fill in …now it’s six months later and her business partner isn’t showing signs of improvement. (more…)