Don and Matt were brothers who were more than happy to start an HVAC company together. And why not? They had the same values, work ethic and complementary strengths.
They completely trusted one another, and loved growing their business together.
That is until Don was tragically taken from this world in a car crash.
Matt was not only devastated to lose his brother, but he was suddenly left trying to pick up responsibilities at work that had been Don’s department.
On top of that, Matt felt responsible for helping out Don’s wife, Shelly and their two daughters since he had no Life Insurance. He couldn’t just leave them high and dry.
Through sheer will-power he was able to keep this up for a couple of years. But then Shelly got remarried to a guy named Eric. Matt had his reservations about Eric, but he was relieved to not to be trying to provide for two families any more.
Matt was a little annoyed when Eric started showing up at the office, and giving his unsolicited advice. It got bad enough, he finally told Eric to leave and not come back.
That’s when Matt received a certified letter from Eric and Shelly’s attorney informing Matt that Shelly was entitled to everything that was Don’s including half the HVAC business. He would have to disclose all the businesses assets as well as detailed profit and loss statements for the past few years.
Matt had not only lost his brother, whom he loved. He had not only lost his business partner. He was about to lose half his business and livelihood.
Every business partnership needs a Buy/Sell Life Insurance policy. The Death Benefit is used to buy out all other interests, allowing the surviving partner to… well, survive.
This can be done cheaply with Term Insurance for those in the start-up phase. Or it can Cash-Value Life Insurance where the savings can be an emergency slush fund, retirement fund, or even a fund to buy a partner out should things ever go sour.