There are generally three categories of people to consider transferring your business to. First, you might consider transition the business to a family member. You might have a child that you want to take over the business. Second, you might consider selling the business to an employee or group of employees. You might have some […]
It’s difficult to come up with a good business succession plan on your own. Instead, you should involve your professional advisors. Use a lawyer (big surprise, I know) and involve your financial advisor and your accountant. You might be able to think of other advisors who should also be included in planning discussions. Your advisor […]
If you’re starting to think about transitioning your business, it’s a really great idea to come up with a written business succession plan. The plan should outline the actions that need to be taken and the timeline for taking those actions. That timeline can be anywhere from a several months to several years, depending on […]
Most shareholder agreements for closely-held corporations will restrict the sale or transfer of shares. The purpose of these restrictions are to ensure that you don’t unwillingly end up in business with someone you don’t know and/or with whom you would not have gone into business in the first place. For example, if you’re in business […]
You’re getting along with the other shareholders of your corporation and you are agreeing on everything – great! This is the best time to put a shareholders’ agreement in place. If you wait until there’s a problem, you’ve waited too long and it’s now too late. If you aren’t getting along, the last thing that […]
If you own your corporation with one or more other shareholders, you need a shareholder agreement. The law doesn’t automatically provide for a buyout if one shareholder dies, or gets divorced, or becomes disabled, or what happens if the shareholders aren’t getting along. In the example of shareholders with irreconcilable differences, the Business Corporations Act […]
Every corporation in Alberta must have a “registered office” address listed with Corporate Registry. The registered office is the address where the minute book should be kept, and also where legal documents can be served on the corporation. Also, directors, shareholders, and other stakeholders of the company have rights to see the certain corporate documents […]
Every corporation is required to have certain documents such as articles, bylaws, director resolution, shareholder resolutions, share certificates, share registers, and ledgers to name a few. All of those documents go into a binder called the minute book. Every corporation is required by law to have a minute book, but there are other reasons to […]
The name for your corporation always has to end in a “legal element”. A legal element is the “Ltd.”, “Limited”, “Inc.”, “Incorporated”, “Corp.”, or “Corporation” that goes at the end of the name. What’s the difference between those six things? Nothing – they all mean the same thing in Alberta. Pick whichever one you think […]
There’s no hard and fast rule on when to incorporate, but here are four reasons you might consider incorporating your business. Liability protection. A corporation is a separate person under the law. If somebody sues the company that person is suing the corporation, not you, and your personal assets are protected. Taxes. Corporate tax is […]