Business Banker & M&A Referral Program
The Deal Closes. The Estate Plan Gap Doesn't.
A business owner who sells without reviewing their estate plan may send sale proceeds through probate, trigger avoidable estate tax, or fund a trust that was never properly structured for a liquidity event. We handle the estate planning side of every business transaction you work on — before closing day.
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The Estate Planning Problem Inside Every Business Sale
Five Estate Planning Gaps That Surface in Every Business Transaction
Business owners focus on the deal. The purchase price, the structure, the tax treatment. What most of them are not focused on is what happens to the proceeds when they die — which may be sooner than they expect if the transaction stress is significant, or simply because life happens after a sale. The estate plan that made sense when the owner held illiquid business equity rarely makes sense after a liquidity event.
The five gaps that surface in nearly every business transaction: an estate that is illiquid because all assets were in the business; a buy-sell agreement that was underfunded or never executed; a trust structure that was never designed to receive sale proceeds; a gifting strategy that was deferred until after the sale and now faces a compressed timeline; and succession planning that involved non-active heirs who now have competing claims on proceeds.
You see these situations before anyone else does. The business banker who knows the company’s balance sheet, and the M&A advisor who sees the deal structure, are in the best position to identify the estate planning gap before it becomes a post-closing problem for the family.
Gaps That Surface at the Deal Table
- A business owner who sells without updating their estate plan may route sale proceeds through probate if the trust was never properly structured to receive them
- A buy-sell agreement that was never executed or was underfunded leaves the surviving partner and the deceased owner's heirs in a dispute over the company's value
- A trust that holds business equity but was never designed for a liquidity event may create tax consequences the client did not anticipate
- Pre-sale gifting strategies that use SLATs, GRATs, or family LLCs require legal documents drafted before closing — not after proceeds are recognized
- Non-active heirs named in an estate plan from before the business sale may have competing claims on proceeds the plan was never designed to distribute
How It Works
From Deal Identified to Plan Coordinated
You identify the gap
During deal diligence, loan structuring, or an M&A engagement, you see the estate planning gap: the trust is unfunded, the buy-sell is missing, the client needs a pre-sale gifting strategy. You send one message with Melissa's contact. We work around your deal timeline.
We coordinate around closing
Your client hears from Melissa's office within 24 hours. We review the existing estate plan against the transaction structure and draft what needs to change before closing day — trust updates, gifting documents, buy-sell agreements if still possible to execute.
The estate plan matches the post-sale picture
After the transaction closes, we update the estate plan to reflect the new asset structure — proceeds in the trust, business equity gone, new accounts and investments. We tell you when the plan is current. Your relationship with the client continues through and after the deal.
How the Partnership Works
Estate Planning Coordinated Around the Transaction Timeline
Business bankers and M&A advisors have told us the same thing: the client agrees estate planning matters, intends to do it before closing, and does not. The deal closes. The proceeds sit in a trust that was never structured for this kind of asset, or route to beneficiaries in proportions the client never intended.
This program gives you a reliable handoff before that happens. When you identify the gap — an unfunded trust, a missing buy-sell, a client who needs a gifting strategy before proceeds are recognized — you send one message with Melissa’s contact. We respond within 24 hours and work around the deal timeline.
We do not give M&A advice. We do not advise on deal structure, tax treatment, or banking relationships. When questions come up about the financial side of a transaction, we send clients back to you. Your relationship with the client stays yours through and after the deal.
Most banking relationships with an estate attorney are transactional. A client mentions estate planning, the banker passes a name, and that is the last either side hears about it. This one is built to move in both directions, over time, on the same client book you already have.
Beyond The Referral
Every other estate attorney asking business bankers for referrals makes the same offer: fast response, no client poaching, no fees. That is the minimum. Here is what actually comes with being an active partner, whether you send a client this quarter or next year:
A Free Personal Estate Plan
Once you complete partner orientation, we draft your will at no cost. Not a discount. Free, one time, no strings.
A Spot in a Small Group of Vetted Professionals
We connect active partners with other professionals who serve the same clients you do, so referrals move in more than one direction.
A Feature in a Real Client Story
When a shared client agrees to it, we build a short video covering their situation and how the plan came together, and you are part of that story.
An Annual Look at Your Own Practice
Once a year, we review your book from an estate-planning risk angle and flag anything your own clients are exposed to.
Training Built Around What Comes Up in Your Client Meetings
Tell us the questions you are fielding, and we build a session around it you can send to your own client list.
We Send Clients Back to You
Every business owner we work with gets asked who their banker is and whether their business loan covenants, personal guarantees, or entity structure have been reviewed in light of their estate plan. If those conversations have not happened, we flag it. If you are their banker, we tell them to reconnect with you before they sign anything else.
When we restructure an entity for estate planning purposes, add a trust as a member, or update a buy-sell agreement, there are often banking implications that fall outside our scope. We route those back to the banker on the file. If that is you, it is new work on a relationship you already hold.
The People Behind the Work
We are a husband-and-wife firm. Your client works with Melissa directly, never a paralegal.
Melissa Breyer
Estate Planning Lawyer
Handles your client’s plan start to finish.
Shawn Breyer
Operations & Marketing
Handles onboarding, operations, and marketing.
Our promise
When you send us a client, you are putting your name on us. We treat every client like your reputation depends on it, because it does. You will hear from us within one business day, and again when the work is done. You will never wonder what happened.
Melissa Breyer
Georgia Estate Planning Attorney
Melissa Breyer works with business owner clients at every stage of a transaction — pre-sale gifting strategy, trust structure for sale proceeds, and post-close estate plan update when the asset picture has fundamentally changed. She understands deal timelines and works around them. When you refer a client before closing, she coordinates with the transaction team and moves at the speed the deal requires. You do not have to wait for a referral to give a client something useful. Ask us for the business succession planning checklist built for annual client review conversations, and use it with any owner in your book.