Released on: October 7, 2007, 5:31 pm

Press Release Author: Jennings Public Relations & Advertising

Industry: Law

Press Release Summary: Sildon Law Group offers tips to small business owners about
how to ensure the future of a family business before the CEO leaves or dies, selling
a business and circumventing taxes on a sale. The business law firm recently
developed a succession plan for The Victor L. Phillips Company that secures a family
successor and minimizes uncertainty among employees, stakeholders and financial
institutions. The majority of family-owned businesses never consider a plan to sell
or leave their company to a successor. By 2050, most closely-held companies can
expect to lose their primary owner as a result of death or retirement.



Press Release Body: Kansas City, Mo. - The majority of family-owned businesses never
consider a plan to sell or leave their company to a successor, yet the survival of a
company\'s legacy is likely to die on that very premise. Sildon Law Group, a Kansas
City-based law firm, has represented numerous small businesses over the years and
has found that history often repeats itself.

According to Myron Sildon, chairman of Sildon Law Group, it often takes a tragedy or
a major event before a small business realizes that a succession plan is in order.
\"In most situations, filling the void of a CEO who retires or dies is an
afterthought for a small business,\" said Sildon. \"It\'s unfortunate, but most small,
family-run companies that generate a million or more in annual revenues, believe
that succession planning is exclusive to the Fortune 500 or they table the issue to
address priorities perceived as more urgent,\" he said. Listen to Myron Sildon\'s
alternatives to selling a business: http://www.sildonlaw.com/podcasts/sildon.mp3 .

It\'s not just locally-owned businesses that put off planning for the future. A
recent study by Korn/Ferry International found that fewer than 40 percent of
organizations have a capable CEO waiting in the wings (Puget Sound Business Journal,
Seattle - June 25, 2007). Even more startling is that most closely-held companies
can expect to lose their primary owner as a result of death or retirement by the
year 2050 and just 40 percent of small businesses will survive to the second
generation (Boston Globe, May 4, 2004).

Succession Planning Checklist: How to prepare a survival plan:
http://www.sildonlaw.com/f_business.php?key=823498798OIDWJKJDFUI2837492KL

It\'s not surprising that Sildon\'s advice to family-business owners is that
succession planning should be a top priority. \"Ideally, companies need a management
team of successors, not a plan dependent only on the owner\'s children,\" said Sildon.
\"Management should start planning five-to-ten years in advance and put a team in
place before the owner plans to retire. Without planning, children may unwillingly
or uninterestedly inherit the task of running the business.\"

Jim Foreman, CEO of The Victor L. Phillips Company, was one such client that
determined his son would be his successor. Foreman bought what is now a $60 million
company several years ago when the original owner decided to sell. He then made his
children co-owners along with a few of the company employees and eventually bought
the employees out. \"Currently, we are creating a succession plan so that Jim\'s son
is his successor with a good management team in place,\" said Sildon. \"When he
originally purchased the company, he gave his son more stock and his daughter real
estate. The idea was that his son would own the company and his daughter would own
the properties and not be active in the business.\"

According to Foreman, succession planning has made it possible for him and the
employees to look forward by proceeding with a plan rather than waiting for the
unknown. \"Sildon\'s firm prepared a plan for us that eased my mind,\" said Foreman. \"I
know that the business will move forward without me, and it doesn\'t have to be a mad
scramble for my heirs and employees after I am gone.\"

Additionally, The Victor L. Phillips Company\'s succession plan secures confidence in
lending institutions and vendors which ensures the future of Foreman\'s business, a
company approaching 100 years in operation.

Sildon\'s firm has saved individual businesses millions of dollars in taxes by
passing companies to families without selling it. \"There are multiple alternatives
to selling a business that circumvents paying taxes on a sale. One such example is
passing it on to your children,\" Sildon explained. However this is not always the
best solution for all closely-held companies. According to Sildon, there are
situations when clients determine that it is more beneficial to sell a business at
an advantageous price, rather than waiting to pass it onto children.

Myron E. Sildon is chairman of the Kansas City-based Sildon Law Group, P.C. He is a
co-author of Missouri Bar Association books on closely held corporations, estate
planning for the family-owned business and family business planning. He co-authored
\"A Practical Guide to Buy-Sell Agreements,\" published by ALI-ABA. He has been listed
in the book \"The Best Lawyers in America,\" edited by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White
Smith, in the three areas of tax law, estates and trusts, and employee benefits law,
and is listed among Kansas City\'s Super Lawyers. He attended Wharton School of
Finance and University of Michigan Law School. He is also a Fellow of both the
American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the American College of Tax
Counsel. A complete biography is available upon request.

Sildon Law Group is a center for business strategies in the areas of tax law,
business succession, qualified plans, corporations, real estate and estate planning.
Sildon Law Group has been in operation for 31 years, helping clients to develop long
term strategies for success in their business, as well as personal investments.
Attorneys at the firm include Myron Sildon, Cheryl Boushka, Shawn Stogsdill and
Phillip Orscheln. For more information, visit www.sildonlaw.com.

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For more information about Sildon Law Group, visit www.sildonlaw.com. For media
inquiries, please call Valerie Jennings at 816.221.1040.




Web Site: http://www.sildonlaw.com

Contact Details: For more information about Sildon Law Group, visit
www.sildonlaw.com. For media inquiries, please call Valerie Jennings at
816.221.1040.