Life Insurance to Protect Business Owners

Life Insurance for Buy-Sell Agreements

What is a buy-sell agreement?

A buy-sell agreement is a written legal contract that details the plans for how a deceased business owner’s interest in the business will be sold to a purchaser. The sale price is prearranged and documented in the agreement.

There are three parties involved with a buy-sell agreement. You have the business owner, the person or entity agreeing to buy the owner’s interest in the business (this is often a co-owner), and the business owner’s heirs.

A buy-sell is necessary to protect your business and family should you die unexpectedly. Without a plan, what happens to your share in the company?

If you’re the sole owner, this means without proper planning your business essentially ceases to operate. If you’re in a partnership, this means without proper planning your share of the business goes to your heirs who may not have an interest in the business or just may not be the best fit to take over.

The Goals of Those Involved

The surviving business owners want to be able to keep running the business without interruptions or interference from the deceased owner’s heirs. They do not want any third parties coming in and taking over the business they’ve dedicated many years to.

Surviving business owners also want to be able to purchase the deceased owner’s share of the business quickly and at a fair price. They also want to preserve the loyalty and support of all the employees, customers, and creditors during this difficult time.

The deceased owner’s heirs want ongoing financial security after the loss of their loved one. They either want to retain their rightful share of the business or receive a fair price for their business interests. And they want a prompt settlement of their loved one’s estate.

Business owners want to make sure that their business and family are both taken care of should they die unexpectedly. They do not want there to be any conflict or litigation between the surviving business owners and their loved ones.

A buy-sell agreement can help:

Increase the ability of a business to prosper after major life events;
Preserve ownership control;
Provide continuity of management;
Convert unmarketable stock into cash;
Establish a fair and reasonable price for the business;
Help fix the value of the deceased’s interest for federal estate tax purposes.

Types of Buy-Sell Agreements

There are three main types of buy-sell agreements:

One-Way Buy-Sell Agreements
Cross-Purchase Buy-Sell Agreements
Entity-Purchase Buy-Sell Agreements

One-Way Buy-Sell Agreements

A one-way buy-sell agreement occurs when there is a sole owner of a business. There are no co-owners to naturally take over if the owner dies.

Many sole-owner businesses don’t outlast their owners due to a lack of succession planning. A one-way buy-sell agreement can help ensure the business’s future success.

How does a one-way buy-sell agreement work?

In a one-way buy-sell agreement, the sole owner commits to sell, and the purchaser commits to buy the business interest if a specific event occurs. This event is typically the owner’s death. The purchaser, ideally, is one of the business’s employees.

The purchase price is pre-determined and defined in the agreement. The price is either determined by a fixed price, which should be re-evaluated from time to time, or a formula specified in the agreement. The purchaser buys a life insurance policy on the business owner’s life in the amount equal to the purchase price. Upon the business owner’s death, the purchaser buys the owner’s share from the estate.

If the business owner ever wants to sell the business during his or her lifetime, the purchaser named in the buy-sell agreement has a “right of first refusal”. This means the business owner must first offer to sell the business to the named purchaser prior to attempting to sell it to a third-party. Only after the named purchaser declines the offer can the owner pursue a third-party sale.

Cross-Purchase Buy-Sell Agreements

A cross-purchase buy-sell agreement is a contract between business owners in which all owners commit to purchasing the business interest of another owner if a certain event occurs, typically death. This type of buy-sell works well for businesses with two to three owners who are all relatively close in age.

How does a cross-purchase buy-sell agreement work?

With a cross-purchase buy-sell agreement, each business owner agrees to buy a portion of a deceased owner’s business interest. To fund this, each owner buys a life insurance policy on the life of every other owner. The coverage amount of each policy in total should equal the total purchase price for that owner’s share of the business.

Example of a Cross-Purchase Buy-Sell

John, Sue, and Joe own equal shares in a business valued at $3,000,000. Therefore, each of their shares is worth $1,000,000.

John purchases a $500,000 life insurance policy on Sue and a $500,000 life insurance policy on Joe.

Sue purchases a $500,000 life insurance policy on John and a $500,000 life insurance policy on Joe.

Joe purchases a $500,000 life insurance policy on John and a $500,000 life insurance policy on Sue.

Each owner is insured with a total of $1,000,000, their share of the business. If an owner dies, each of the surviving owners uses the $500,000 death benefit to purchase the total $1,000,000 share from the deceased owner’s estate.

It’s advisable to use cross-purchase agreements when the owners are relatively the same age. This is because the life insurance premiums insuring a young person are vastly different than they would be on an older person. It wouldn’t be fair if a 35-year-old co-owner was paying policy premiums on a 65-year-old co-owner.

In addition, a cross-purchase agreement is best if there are only a few owners involved. With the example above, there are six total life insurance policies for three owners. Imagine if the company had six owners. Then there would be a total of 30 life insurance policies since each owner needs to own a policy on every single other owner. This can get quite complex and a lot to manage.

For businesses that have a wide disparity of owner ages or multiple owners, an entity-purchase buy-sell agreement would be best.

Entity-Purchase Buy-Sell Agreements

An entity-purchase buy-sell agreement is ideal if there are many business owners or if the owners’ ages are vastly different.

How does an entity-purchase buy-sell agreement work?

With an entity-purchase buy-sell, the business entity agrees to buy a deceased owner’s interest from the deceased’s owner’s estate for a pre-determined price.

The business needs each owner’s consent to purchase a life insurance policy on their life. The insurance coverage amount should equal the purchase price for that owner’s share of the business.

The business also has access to the policies’ cash values in an entity-purchase buy-sell agreement. Typically with the cross-purchase and one-way buy-sells, this isn’t allowed.

Funding a Buy-Sell with Life Insurance

A buy-sell agreement needs to be funded in order to work. Life insurance is often the most effective means of funding this sale.

Which type of life insurance should be used?

There is no general answer as to which type of life insurance is best in a buy-sell scenario. It depends on several factors in the business planning situation.

Term life insurance may be more appropriate if:

The buy-sell agreement is expected to end by age 65 or 70.
Low annual premiums in the early years are important.

Permanent life insurance may be more appropriate if:

The buy-sell requires funds for disability or retirement scenarios.
The insurance is needed as a source of liquidity or collateral for the business.

Benefits of Using Life Insurance to Fund a Buy-Sell:

Life insurance creates a lump sum of cash to fund the buy-sell agreement at death;
Life insurance proceeds are usually paid quickly after your death, ensuring that the buy-sell transaction can be settled quickly;
Life insurance proceeds are usually income tax free;
If sufficient cash values have built up within the policies, the funds can be accessed to purchase an owner’s interest following retirement or disability.

Benefits to the Policy Owners:

Cash becomes available at the business owner’s death to help meet purchase obligations created by the buy-sell agreement.
Gives assurance to a valued key employee or family member that their loyalty and dedication are recognized and that their role in the business will continue.
Access to policy cash values, if any, to use should the purchase of an owner’s interest happen pre-death.

Benefits to the Insureds:

Cash is available for estate liquidity or other family needs.
The departing owner and his or her heirs are relieved of business responsibilities.

Buy-sell agreements are extremely important so it’s smart to hire an experienced attorney to draft these contracts to make sure everything is structured properly.