Northern Georgia General Law Blog

Businesses can suffer from the accumulation of debts relatively quickly. This is primarily because many external factors can affect a business' success. Even if a few months ago your cash flow was healthy, you may have fallen into debt fairly swiftly due to a situation that was beyond your control.

Even if the reason why you fell into debt initially was through no fault of your own, it is your responsibility to take control of your finances. You should, therefore, make sure that you look into your various options regarding bankruptcy so that you can effectively remedy the situation. The following are three options that you have as a business owner.

Everyone has the right to live in a home that is free from excessive external noise. Noise can seem like only a minor consideration when deciding whether to purchase or rent a property; however, excessive noise, especially during antisocial hours, can have an extremely detrimental impact on a person's life.

Noise pollution in the home can lead to sleep deprivation and stress that can actually be a catalyst for illness. Therefore, it is important that you take action to restore the quiet of your home.

Passing a business on to your children is not the same as listing out other assets in your will. You need a viable business succession plan. You need to consider the future of the company and the employees, not just your own future or your heirs' futures. It's critical that you do all of this properly if you want to see your children take over the family business.

To help you, here are a few key tips:

1. Start early. Don't put this off. Some say that it's best to start about a decade before you want to pass the company on, though five years will work.
2. Get the children involved. Work with them and show them the ropes. By the time they take over, they should have years or even decades of experience.
3. Have conversations with your heirs. Ask them what they want and what they expect. Do they even want to run the company? How many heirs expect to be involved?
4. Be realistic about their skills. Don't give too much responsibility to someone who isn't ready for it just because they're in your family. Do not set them up for failure by giving them jobs they can't handle.
5. Remember that equality, while it sounds nice, may not be best for the company. Are you really best off to leave the company in one capable person's hands or to split the ownership up between four different heirs who are less capable?

When you're securing funding for your new business, it feels like you'll have no problem getting everything you need. You have a lot of interested investors. You started with a dream and no capital, so everything you bring in massively expands what you think is possible.

Twelve months later, though, you're on the verge of running out of money and declaring bankruptcy. What happened? How did you burn through everything so quickly, ruining what was otherwise a good business idea?