Going into business with your family can be incredibly lucrative. Your shared vision and commitment to moving the venture forward can contribute significantly to its success. However, mixing business with family poses a variety of unique challenges. To help you navigate those challenges and allow your business to achieve its full potential, you need support from solicitors who understand the intricacies of family businesses.
At Ashton’s Legal, we are experts in working with family businesses. Our multi-disciplinary practice encompasses all applicable practice areas, including corporate, employment, and dispute resolution. We build longstanding relationships with our clients, thereby gaining a deep insight into their commercial operations and an appreciation of their objectives.
Our family business solicitors regularly appear in prominent law directories, including the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners. We are not only recognised for our ‘leading reputation’, but also for our ‘unequalled client care’.
Our Bury St Edmunds family business solicitors can help you with:
- Business acquisition or sale
- Business restructuring and reorganisation
- Ownership governance issues and governance documents
- Succession and estate planning, including wills and wealth preservation
- Protecting business from relationship breakdown, including pre-nuptial and post-nuptial arrangements
- Shareholder/partner relations and commercial disputes
- Trust creation and administration
- Commercial contracts
- Property ownership and planning issues
- Employment issues and HR Consulting
- Regulatory, licensing, health & safety and criminal defence
- Business recovery, insolvency and debt collection
- Debt funding and refinancing
Book a consultation with our family business solicitors in Bury St Edmunds
For assistance with family business matters, please call our Bury St Edmunds office or use our contact form.
How we can help with family business services in Bury St Edmunds
Business acquisitions and sales
If you or your family are considering acquiring a business, or selling one, our expert family business solicitors can support you every step of the way.
Our specialist acquisitions and disposals solicitors take a holistic approach to every transaction, collaborating with colleagues from various departments to support you, including our regulatory and disputes team, our employment team, and our commercial property team.
We can provide assistance in many ways, including, but not limited to:
- Conducting buyer due diligence
- Support with corporate financing
- Support to make the necessary tax considerations
- Assistance with employment matters and considerations
- Guidance on licensing and regulatory compliance matters
To find out more about how we can help you with business acquisitions and sales, click here.
Business restructuring and reorganisation
Restructuring your business can be essential if you are facing financial difficulties. However, it can also help healthy companies who wish to streamline their operations, improve tax efficiency, and boost productivity. Our team of family business solicitors includes recognised experts in both insolvency and corporate law with vast experience in corporate restructuring.
We can assist with all restructuring and reorganisation matters, including:
- Refinancing
- Capital reduction
- Restructuring strategy
- Mergers and demergers
To find out more about how we can help you with business restructuring and reorganisation, click here.
Ownership governance issues and governance documents
Effective governance is the hallmark of any successful business. By running your business according to a set of proper rules and procedures, you can ensure strong leadership, encourage integrity, and minimise the chance of disputes.
Our family business solicitors in Bury St Edmunds include corporate law specialists who assist clients in creating and implementing effective governance policies.
We can advise on all key aspects of corporate governance, including:
- Governance processes
- Governance policies
- Governance documentation, including shareholders agreements and articles of association for your family owned company
To find out more about how we can help you with governance issues, please click here.
Succession and estate planning, including wills and wealth preservation
Succession planning can present one of the greatest challenges for family businesses. Deciding who to pass the reins to when you step down can be an incredibly difficult task, and the succession planning process can exacerbate power struggles and put strain on key relationships.
Effective succession planning requires a team of legal advisors with experience in many practice areas, such as corporate, tax, and family. As a multi-disciplinary practice, our expertise spans all relevant legal disciplines, so you can be confident that your succession plans will facilitate a smooth transition and secure your business’s long-term success.
Our family business solicitors in Bury St Edmunds are specialists in all succession planning issues, including:
- Business sales
- Trusts
- Wills and estate planning, including Powers of Attorney
- Tax
To find out more about our succession and estate planning services, please click here. For information on our Wills and wealth preservation expertise, please click here.
Protecting business from relationship breakdown, including pre-nuptial and post-nuptial arrangements
The success of a family business depends largely on those in charge working together towards common goals. The breakdown of a key relationship can cause significant problems and put the business’s future in jeopardy, so it’s essential to safeguard against this potential risk.
If the business owners are married or in a civil partnership, one way to protect your business is for them to enter into a pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreement stating their intentions for the business if their relationship ends. These agreements ensure everyone knows where they stand and reduce the risk of disputes.
We have one of the largest family law departments in the region, and routinely advise clients on how to protect their family businesses. To find out more about pre-nuptial and post-nuptial arrangements, please click here.
Shareholder/partner relations and commercial disputes
Family relationships can be complex, so when you work together, disagreements sometimes arise. Disputes of any nature can severely impede your business, so you must address any issues early to avoid them escalating.
Our team of family business lawyers includes specialist dispute resolution solicitors skilled in achieving the best possible outcome for our clients. We consider litigation to be a last resort and concentrate on identifying pragmatic solutions that allow you to spend your valuable resources on expanding your business, rather than a court case. However, if proceedings are unavoidable, we are highly experienced litigators, and will provide exceptional representation.
Our family business solicitors in Bury St Edmunds can assist you with commercial disputes of all types. Our services include:
- Advising on the strength of your position
- Negotiating a settlement, including through alternative dispute resolution methods
- Representing you in Court
To find out more about how we can help with shareholder/partner relations and commercial disputes, please click here.
Trust creation and administration
Trusts play a crucial role in succession planning and wealth preservation. They are complex legal structures, so it’s essential to work with specialist trusts lawyers when creating one to ensure it mirrors your requirements and achieves your objectives. Our exceptional trusts team is ranked highly in the leading law directories, and many of our specialist solicitors are members of the Association of Tax Technicians, Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).
Our family business solicitors in Bury St Edmunds are experienced in all areas of trusts law, including:
- Advising on the appropriate trust arrangement
- Setting up a trust
- Administering a trust
- Ending a trust
To find out more about how we can help you create and administer a trust, please click here.
Commercial contracts
Commercial contracts play a key role in protecting your family business’s commercial interests. Any uncertainty over a contractual term can lead to hard-fought, expensive disputes. Accordingly, ensuring your contracts are clear and unequivocal, and allow all parties to understand their position, is essential.
Our team of family business solicitors in Bury St Edmunds includes commercial lawyers who are highly ranked in the Legal 500 for their work in this area. We have extensive experience in all commercial contract matters, including:
- Consumer contracts
- Joint ventures
- Supply contracts
- Licensing agreements
- Disputes
To find out more about how we can help you with commercial contracts, please click here.
Property ownership and planning issues
Commercial property matters are complicated, and mistakes can be costly. Our family business solicitors team includes experts ranked by the Legal 500 for their outstanding work in commercial property, property litigation, and planning and environmental matters. So, when you instruct us to assist your family business with commercial property issues, you can be confident that the advice you receive will be both legally accurate and commercially sound.
Our family business solicitors in Bury St Edmunds’ work encompasses all contentious and non-contentious property matters, including:
- Planning issues
- Buying and selling property
- Managing your property and estate portfolio
- Landlord and tenant matters
- Dispute resolution
To find out more about how we can help you with property transactions and planning issues, please click here.
Employment issues and HR Consulting
The people who work in your family business are its most valuable asset, so taking care of them is crucial. Employment and HR issues can be difficult to navigate, particularly if you do not have the personnel equipped to do so.
We can help by providing HR specialists to fulfil the role of a dedicated HR team within your business, dealing with issues as they arise and ensuring your employment practices are fair and legally compliant. We also have an outstanding team of employment solicitors who are on hand to offer any employment law advice you require.
Our family business solicitors in Bury St Edmunds can assist with all HR and employment law matters, including:
- Employment policies and contracts
- Disciplinary procedures
- Capability procedures
- Employee data and monitoring
- Legal proceedings
To find out more about how we can help you with employment law matters, please click here. For information on our HR consultancy services, please click here.
Regulatory, licensing, health & safety and criminal defence
Regulatory law is ever evolving and now permeates all business areas. Compliance is essential to avoid fines and even criminal prosecutions. Our family business solicitors team includes specialists in regulatory, licensing, health and safety, and criminal defence. We will work closely with you to ensure your practices comply with the relevant regulations. If you are being investigated for an alleged breach, we will defend the allegations on your behalf and work tirelessly to secure the most lenient penalty.
Our family business lawyers in Bury St Edmunds can help with all aspects of regulatory law, including:
- Business crime and fraud
- Housing licences
- Health and Safety Executive investigations
- Trading Standards investigations
To find out more about how we can help you with regulatory and licensing issues, please click here.
Business recovery, insolvency, and debt collection
Collecting debt owed to your family business can be time-consuming and frustrating. Our debt recovery services can ease the burden by collecting your cash promptly and cost-effectively.
If your business is in financial difficulties, our leading business recovery team can assist you in dealing with creditors and trading out of trouble. If insolvency is unpreventable, our insolvency solicitors, recognised experts in their field, can support you through the process and protect your interests.
Our family business solicitors in Bury St Edmunds offer comprehensive advice on business recovery, insolvency, and debt collection matters, including:
- Recovering unpaid invoices
- Restructuring
- Defending winding up petitions
- Liquidations
- Administrations
To find out more about our business recovery and insolvency services, please click here. For more information on our debt collection services, please click here.
Debt funding and refinancing
Taking on debt can be an efficient way of funding your expansion plans, buying essential equipment, and purchasing stock to meet customer demand. Refinancing your existing debt can free up further capital and reduce your repayments.
Our family business lawyers in Bury St Edmunds offer comprehensive advice on all matters relating to debt funding and refinancing. To learn more, please click here.
Why choose our family business solicitors in Bury St Edmunds?
Our family business solicitors provide:
- Extensive experience in all legal matters relevant to your family business. We are noted as a leader in the region by the Legal 500.
- A strong commercial focus. Clients consistently praise our ‘commercial and pragmatic’
- Exceptional service. We are known for going ‘above and beyond’ for our clients, and the Legal 500 states that we have ‘the edge in client care’.
Our family business solicitors’ fees
When you choose Ashton’s, you can be sure of exceptional family business advice and excellent value for money. Your family business lawyer will explain our billing processes to you when you first meet, and keep you updated on fees throughout your matter.
To read more about our pricing, please click here.
Contact our family business solicitors in Bury St Edmunds
For further help and to speak to a family business lawyer in Bury St Edmunds, please call our office or complete our contact form, and a member of our team will be in touch.