LAW

You’ve spent decades building and shaping your business into a success. Now it’s time for you to retire, but what about your business? Do you have a plan for its future? According to several Seacoast lawyers, succession planning is one of the hottest topics facing small business owners today.

"As the population and businesses mature, this issue is becoming important," said Patrick Closson, a corporate lawyer with McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton. "If the proper planning is not done, business owners can expose themselves to expensive disputes among owners."

When clients come to Giuseppe E. Bellavita, an attorney with Pierce Atwood LLP, he first asks for their goals for the business five or 10 years down the line. He then asks if they have "someone in the pipeline naturally" to transfer ownership to - a child, other relation, vice president or co-worker.

"Sometimes a family member is not the best person," Bellavita said. If there’s no one, they discuss other options. "Depending on the size of the organization, you could go to a search firm."

According to Closson, another big issue in law that affects businesses is the ongoing national and statewide debate on illegal immigration.

A N.H. Senate bill approved in March requires employers who hire aliens to register with the state. The bill now heads to the House, but if it becomes law it would allow surprise inspections, fines against violators and reports to the federal government of any illegal immigrants.

Dan Wise, communications director for the New Hampshire Bar Association, spoke of other topical issues, including technological privacy in the work place.

"How much oversight of employees’ communication do you have?" Wise said. "Personal use of technology in the workplace, like wasting time on the Internet. That’s an issue that’s coming up a lot. And it bumps into the privacy issue. Do employees think they have entitlement to their e-mails?"

Steven F. Hyde, an attorney with Shaines & McEachern, P.A., spotlights "a huge issue" for small business owners, based on the 2003 U.S. Bankruptcy court decision re: Ashley Albright. In fact, Hyde wrote an abstract on the issue under the heading "Your single-member LLC (Limited Liability Company) may not be protecting your business assets."

"Albright provides an incentive to creditors of New Hampshire single-member LLCs to force the LLC’s sole members into bankruptcy as a method of capturing the member’s interest in the LLC, and therefore the assets of the LLC, for distribution to creditors through the bankruptcy proceeding," Hyde wrote.

"Basically, Albright opens the door for creditors to get the assets of a single-member LLC by going after the sole owner in bankruptcy. The tactic will undoubtedly be used in nonbankruptcy cases as well, although to what degree of success remains to be seen."