Selling a business is a complicated affair. Add to that the emotions and interpersonal dynamics involved in a family-owned business, and it's easy to see why many families wait too long to sell or experience less than stellar...more
Current high estate tax exemption amounts, low interest rates, and decreased company valuations have many family business owners scrambling to make gifts of ownership interests or close other succession planning transactions...more
On March 27, 2019, Davis Wright Tremaine and partners the Pacific Family Business Institute and Cascadia Capital, held a lunch in Yakima, Washington as part of their Family Business Legacy Series. ...more
Businesses and the families that own them are each “governed” by a structure and set of rules. Often, that structure is informal and the rules unwritten, vague and inconsistently applied. This creates a virtual breeding...more
The Pacific Family Business Institute (PFBI) has just released the results of its 2018 survey. With support from Cascadia Capital, Moss Adams and Davis Wright Tremaine, PFBI interviewed 81 family businesses in Washington and...more
The governance system for a family-owned business provides the structure through which the objectives of the owners and the company are set and the means for monitoring performance against them is established. This system...more
This market offers family businesses a multitude of alternatives to selling your company.
You are a family business owner....more
If your family business has or anticipates having more than one owner, you need a Buy-Sell Agreement. A Buy-Sell Agreement governs the terms and conditions under which ownership interests in the enterprise may be transferred....more
At this point, no one knows exactly how or when changes to federal income tax, gift tax and/or estate tax will occur. What we do know now is that what has been proposed so far is likely not going to be the final product. So,...more
Business buyouts are red hot, and pricing is back up to where it was before the Great Recession, thanks to cheap financing and a stronger U.S. economy. The fact is that this market won’t last forever.
Feeling the pressure...more
On May 16, 2017, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP hosted 85 owners and managers of family-owned businesses at the latest edition of our Family Business Legacy Series. Mike Garvey, the co-founder of Saltchuck Resources, a...more
Recently, DWT’s Family Business Group sponsored a day-long workshop on Succession Planning featuring Professor Ivan Lansberg from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Professor Lansberg is one of the world...more
Sometimes, the right succession plan is to sell the family business.
Recently, four veterans of family business sales shared their experiences with other families at a DWT Family Business Legacy Series Event in Seattle. ...more
Two generations of the Hemingway family recently shared their experiences with partnering for growth and developing the next generation. On January 20, 2016, at Davis Wright Tremaine’s Seattle Office, Jon Hemingway, Chairman...more
Let’s face reality. We are all going to pass on someday, so we might as well be prepared and lessen the burden for those following behind us. One of the first steps in effective succession planning is to gather in one place...more