My father and I have built a small business from the ground up in the last 16 years. Recently my little brother expressed that he wanted to quit his job and come work for us - presumably to take my dad's place.

I'm for the idea, but there are too many bad stock gifting ideas floating around. Does anyone know of an experienced business guy who can come in, listen to the parties involved and offer an opinion on how things could work? specifically, the smartest way to include the brother as a partner?

TIA

Are you and your father 50/50 partners? Couldn't he just buy him out? You could also offer to participate in the buyout to get a controlling share.

Sure. There are details that I didn't share that make it more complicated than that though.

First of all, good luck. I worked with my dad for 17 years building a company before he passed (without a will in place), and ended up with my sisters as minority partners in a company they couldn't locate on a map. They have since been bought out, but it was not a fun process.

What does your partnership agreement say on the subject of gifting shares?

First….tell us about your brother's wife.

Towns03 said:

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My father and I have built a small business from the ground up in the last 16 years. Recently my little brother expressed that he wanted to quit his job and come work for us - presumably to take my dad's place.

I'm for the idea, but there are too many bad stock gifting ideas floating around. Does anyone know of an experienced business guy who can come in, listen to the parties involved and offer an opinion on how things could work? specifically, the smartest way to include the brother as a partner?

TIA

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As someone who just took over from my father as the third generation owner of a business that has been around for 75+ years, all I can say is tread very very lightly with your brother coming in. The blunt way to put it is if he is coming to take your dad's place, is he expecting to be your equal even though you spend 16 years creating the business? I have a half-brother who has a different father and he is very sore that he wasn't left the business or at least enough of the business to "be in charge."

Shoot me a PM if you'd like to discuss more about family dynamics of changing/adding members to a family business.

Can he work as a worker on salary first and see how it goes?
Make sure you check what is regulation and how to use it in communication process in your business.
We work in a big company and without features like that, we wouldn't be able to manage all the workers.

The Partnership Charter by David Gage | BMC Associates

David Gage consults. Buy the book, read it. It's probably what you need. Then you can decide if you want to engage him in consulting work.

Can't recommend exploring this enough to you.

I deal with family transitions and buy-outs regularly. I'd be happy to have a quick chat with you if you'd like. Depending on what those other "details" are that you reference above, I might be able to help identify some paths for you to consider to accomplish this move. My contact info is below.

thanks, y'all.

I just ordered Gage's book. Hopefully, this hasn't been solidified before I can even get it delivered


My mom has hired a lawyer to help come up with a plan. I hate lawyers. I'm using the word hate here. We'll see how that goes.