Business Owner Planning
Business Succession Plan
A business succession plan documents who takes over, on what terms, and how ownership transfers — before a crisis forces the decision.
Find Out Where You Stand
Your Business Needs a Written Plan for What Happens When You Are Gone
Georgia business owners who have not documented a succession plan leave their families and employees with no legal framework for continuing or closing the business. A written succession plan, aligned with your estate plan, removes the guesswork.
What Happens to Your Business When You Die Without a Plan in Georgia
The day you die, your business stops. Bank accounts get frozen. Your LLC or corporation cannot make payroll, pay vendors, sign contracts, or take distributions until probate closes. If that takes 23 months, and it often does, your employees, clients, and cash flow do not wait. The business does not pause. It falls apart.
Your business interest becomes part of your estate. That means it goes through probate. A court decides what happens to it. Your family cannot touch it, sell it, or run it without court approval. The people who helped you build it, and the family you built it for, are locked out while a judge decides the next step. You spent years building something. Probate can take most of it away in months.
If you have a business partner, your heirs may inherit your share. That means your spouse or children could become your partner’s new co-owner. There is no agreement in place. The working relationship that kept the business running is gone, and now there is a legal dispute about who owns what and who decides what. Your partner did not sign up to be in business with your family.
If you are the only owner, there is no one legally authorized to run the business the day you die. Contracts expire. Clients leave. Employees quit. Equipment loans default. The business that took you a decade to build can be worth close to nothing by the time probate closes. An unplanned exit is not a retirement. It is a fire sale.
What a Succession Plan Actually Does
A succession plan is a set of legal documents that answers every question before anyone has to ask it. Who takes over. Who owns what. What happens to your business interest. How it gets valued. What your family receives. What your partner can do. All of it is decided while you are alive and thinking clearly, not in a courtroom two years after you are gone. A plan takes those decisions out of probate and puts them where they belong: with you.
It keeps the business running. The right documents give a named person the authority to make payroll, honor contracts, manage employees, and keep operations going the day you die or become incapacitated. Not after 23 months. Your business keeps its value because it keeps operating.
It protects what your family is owed. Your heirs receive what your business is actually worth, not what is left after a probate process drains the accounts while clients go elsewhere. Your family receives the value you built, not a depleted version of it.
What You Get with a Succession Plan from The Hive Law
We start with your Design Meeting. Melissa Breyer reviews your business structure, ownership arrangement, your personal estate, and what you want to happen. She asks the questions that surface the gaps. Most business owners walk in thinking they have a plan and leave realizing they have a starting point. The audit tells you exactly where you stand and what it will take to get there.
From there, we build a plan specific to your business. Not a template. A plan built around your LLC or S-Corp, your partners, your family, and the actual value at stake. Every document is designed to work together so nothing falls through when the time comes. Your plan covers the business, the transition, and the people involved.
The documents depend on what your business needs. That can include ownership transfer instructions, operating agreement amendments, a buy-sell agreement, documents that give someone authority to run the business on your behalf, and coordination with your personal estate plan so nothing conflicts. What you get is a complete plan, not a stack of documents that do not talk to each other.
What This Does Not Do
A succession plan does not run your business. It gives someone the legal authority and clear instructions to do that. The plan is only as good as the person you name to carry it out. Choosing the right person is a decision we will work through in your audit, but it is yours to make. We build the legal structure. You build the team that executes it.
A succession plan does not replace a will or a trust. Your personal estate still needs to be in order. If your business interest flows into your estate and your estate has no plan, the succession documents can only do so much. Most clients who work with us on succession planning also coordinate it with a full personal estate plan. The two plans work together or they work against each other.
If avoiding probate for your business assets is a priority, a revocable living trust that holds your business interest may be part of the solution. Melissa can walk you through whether that fits your situation during your audit.
Investment for business succession planning depends on your structure, ownership arrangement, and complexity. Book a Design Meeting to get a specific plan and a clear number for your situation.
The fact that you read this far tells us something about you. You take this seriously. So do we.
Without a Succession Plan
- Business accounts freeze on day one. No payroll, no contracts, no distributions.
- Probate takes 23 months while clients leave and employees quit.
- Your heirs and your business partner become co-owners by default.
- A court decides who runs the business and what its value is.
- Your family pays $37,000+ in probate costs while the business earns nothing.
- Your business is worth what survives two years of legal process.
With a Succession Plan
- A named person has legal authority to operate the business the day you die.
- Operations continue without interruption during the transition.
- Your partner knows exactly what happens to your interest. No disputes.
- The transition follows your instructions, not a judge's decision.
- Your family receives what the business is actually worth.
- Your personal estate and your business plan work together from day one.
How It Works
A 15-Minute Call With Shawn
Tell us what is going on with your family. Shawn walks you through your options and what each one costs. Free.
Melissa Designs Your Plan
She builds your estate plan from scratch based on your specific assets and family. You get an exact quote before you commit to anything.
Review Every Document With Melissa
Before you sign, Melissa walks through every document with you in plain language. No legal jargon. No confusion about what you are signing.
Your Plan Is Complete
Melissa delivers your completed documents and explains exactly what your family needs to do. You leave knowing your plan is in place and your family is protected.
Melissa Breyer
Georgia Estate Planning Attorney
Melissa Breyer is a Georgia estate planning attorney who works exclusively on trust-based estate planning and LLC formation. She personally designs every plan at The Hive Law and handles every client consultation herself. Every plan is built from scratch for your specific family, your specific assets, and your specific wishes.
113+ Five-Star Google Reviews
What Our Clients Say
After my father passed away, my mother had to rely on my father's employer to navigate the estate. It was a disaster. After this experience, I knew I needed a plan. I turned to The Hive Law to set up a trust. I no longer have to worry about my wife and children going through a difficult process if something happens to me. I highly recommend The Hive Law!
My biggest fear was that if I died first, my wife would have no idea how to navigate the estate and legal system. I reached out to The Hive Law and they put my mind at ease immediately. Their process is easy to follow and they took care of everything. The Hive Law is the best decision I've made for my family's future.
Working with Melissa Breyer to set up our Living Trust was a wonderful experience. She and her entire team were knowledgeable, professional, and made the whole process easy to understand. I highly recommend The Hive Law for all your estate planning needs!
We highly recommend Hive Law. They were extremely helpful and professional in guiding us through the process of creating a Revocable Living Trust. Melissa and Shawn were thorough, answered all our questions, and made a potentially confusing process easy to understand.
The Hive Law made the entire estate planning and trust process easy to understand and stress-free. Melissa and Shawn walked us through every step and answered all of our questions. We feel confident that our family is protected. Highly recommend!
My mom chose The Hive firm to help with estate planning after my father passed away. They were very thorough in explaining every step of the process. They made a difficult time much easier to navigate. I highly recommend The Hive Law for anyone needing estate planning services.
I used The Hive Law to help me create a trust for my family. The process was straightforward and Melissa and Shawn made sure I understood each step. They were responsive to all of my questions. I feel much more confident about my family's future now. Highly recommend!
Working with Shawn and Melissa at The Hive Law has been a great experience. They are very knowledgeable and took the time to explain all of our options. They made the process of setting up a trust simple and stress-free. I would highly recommend them to anyone needing estate planning.
The Hive Law Firm, and specifically Melissa, has been wonderful to work with during our estate planning process. She is knowledgeable, patient, and thorough. She answered all of our questions and made the process easy to understand. I highly recommend The Hive Law!
Shawn and Melissa were amazing to work with! My partner and I recently bought a house and wanted to get important things like wills, healthcare directives, etc. set up. They were incredible at answering all our questions and working with us to make sure we felt confident in all of the legal aspects. Having tried to do this online before with one of the DIY tools, it was just an amazing experience to get to talk through what we wanted with a knowledgeable human and have them take care of the details.
Hive Law was awesome to work with! Melissa and Shawn explained everything, kept things stress-free, and were always quick to respond to my questions. They made the whole process simple and smooth from start to finish. Highly recommend if you want a team that's knowledgeable but also easy to work with.
I lost my father in February of this year without any estate planning in place. The process of dealing with the probate court has been overwhelming and expensive. After this experience, I contacted The Hive Law to set up a trust so my children never have to go through what I've been through. Melissa and Shawn were compassionate, knowledgeable, and made the entire process simple. I highly recommend The Hive Law!
I used to know the bare minimum about probate and trust. I first encountered Shawn Breyer on Facebook. He was offering a webinar that I watched. That gave me a better understanding of probate versus trust. I was impressed enough to have him and his wife represent me. I had my initial one on one interview with Melissa Breyer, it went smoothly and she made everything clear. We are now proceeding with getting a revocable trust in place.
The Hive Law has been amazing throughout the process of setting up our trust. Every detail is considered and no stone is left unturned. They have been easy and enjoyable to work with. I would absolutely recommend them! Don't let your estate be turned over to Probate!!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. If you are the only owner and you die without a plan, there is no one legally authorized to run the business on day one. Accounts freeze. Contracts sit in your name. Employees have no one to answer to. A succession plan names someone to take over and gives them the authority to do it immediately. Not after a court process. The business you built does not have to disappear because you did.
Most do not. A standard operating agreement addresses how the business runs while you are alive. It may include a provision about what happens to your membership interest when you die, but it typically does not address who has operational authority, how the transition is funded, or how your personal estate interacts with your business interest. If you are not sure what yours says, that is exactly what the audit is for.
A buy-sell agreement governs what happens to a business interest when an owner dies, becomes incapacitated, or wants to exit. It sets the price, the terms, and who can buy. If you have a business partner and no buy-sell agreement, there is no legal framework for what happens to your interest when you die. Your partner and your heirs work it out in a dispute, or a court does it for them. A buy-sell agreement removes that fight before it starts.
S-Corps have strict ownership rules. Shares can only be held by certain people and certain types of entities. If your interest transfers to the wrong person or the wrong kind of trust, your S-Corp election can be permanently revoked and the tax treatment of the entire corporation changes. A succession plan for an S-Corp ensures that every ownership transfer is structured to comply with those rules. That is part of what Melissa reviews in your audit.
Yes. Your business interest is an asset in your personal estate. If your personal estate documents do not address it, or if the two plans conflict, you can end up with a situation where one plan works and the other does not. Most clients we work with on business succession also have a personal estate plan in place. If you do not have one yet, we build both together so nothing falls through.
It depends on your business structure, the number of owners, and what documents need to be created or updated. A sole-owner LLC with a straightforward plan costs less than a multi-owner S-Corp with a buy-sell agreement and trust coordination. The only way to give you a real number is to review your situation. Book a Family Protection Audit and Melissa will give you a specific recommendation and a specific cost before you commit to anything.
Find Out Where You Stand
A free 15-minute call. You will leave knowing exactly what you have, what you are missing, and what it costs to fix it.
Free Webinar
Not Ready Yet?
Join our free live webinar to learn what every Georgia family needs to know about protecting their home, their savings, and their family.
Free WebinarWhere We Serve
Georgia Counties We Serve
We help families across Georgia protect their assets and avoid probate. Select your county to learn more about estate planning where you live.