“Help! My business partner has passed away and I can’t afford to pay out his estate!”
This is a terrible story. This is a story of two mechanics who went into business together (Let’s say their names are Joe and Andrew). They owned the business 50/50. Neither of them had a lot in superannuation and most savings went straight into starting up the business. A few years into the business, Andrew died quite tragically. The business was not in a financial position to pay any money to Andrew’s family, but technically the family (via the Will), now own 50% of the garage. Andrew’s wife has never worked in a garage before, nor does she really want to work in a garage. Unfortunately Andrew’s wife has no choice but to work there, and Joe has no choice but to let her work there because he can’t pay her out.
What could they have done?
There are insurance policies which could solve this issue and provide you with a level of peace of mind and control. In a nutshell, if the business had adequate insurance in place, Andrew’s family would have been the beneficiary of the insurance policy and Joe would have retained 100% of the business… It would have been a clean cut, and would have left both parties with choices.
The information provided in this article is of a general nature only. It has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on this information you should consider its appropriateness having regard to your own objectives, financial situation and needs.