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 Family Protection Audit. 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 Family Protection Audit 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
With a Succession Plan
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.
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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!!
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