Business360: Business Law & Succession Planning
Build It Right. Protect What You're Building. Plan for What Comes Next.
You worked hard to build your business.
Maybe it started with an idea at your kitchen table. Maybe you took over a family business. Maybe you’re turning a side business into something much bigger.
Whatever the story, owning a business creates legal and financial decisions that can affect much more than the company itself.
They can affect your income, your assets, your family, and eventually your legacy.
At Fogg & Cole Law, Business360 looks beyond a single contract or legal document.
Attorney Kecia Cole, J.D., CPA, brings more than three decades of legal experience together with her accounting background to help Oklahoma business owners think about the bigger picture:
How should the business be structured? How are the owners protected? What happens when circumstances change? And eventually, what happens to the business when you’re no longer running it?
That’s Business360!
Start Your Business on the Right Foundation
A Business Is More Than an LLC Filing
Starting a business can feel surprisingly simple today.
Fill out an online form. Register an LLC. Open a bank account. Start doing business.
But forming an entity and building a business on a sound legal foundation aren’t necessarily the same thing.
Who owns the company?
How are decisions made?
What happens if there are multiple owners and they disagree?
Can an owner sell an interest?
What happens if an owner becomes disabled, gets divorced, dies, or simply wants out?
What agreements should be in writing?
And does the structure you’re creating make sense for what you’re actually trying to build?
Business360 begins by looking beyond the filing.
Fogg & Cole Law can assist business owners with matters including:
- LLC and business entity formation
- Entity selection and business structure
- Operating agreements
- Partnership and ownership agreements
- Corporate governance
- Ownership interests
- Business contracts and agreements
- Purchases and sales of businesses or business interests
- Real estate and property considerations
- Business succession and continuity planning
- Coordination with estate and family planning
The objective is simple:
Build the legal foundation before you’re forced to repair it.
The Attorney + CPA Perspective
Business Decisions Rarely Fit Into Just One Box
Legal decisions can have financial consequences.
Financial decisions can create legal consequences.
And for a closely held or family-owned business, both can have consequences for the owner’s family.
That’s why Kecia’s background is particularly valuable to business owners.
Before becoming an attorney, Kecia earned her degree in accounting from Oklahoma State University and became a Certified Public Accountant. She later earned her law degree and has practiced law in Oklahoma for more than three decades.
That experience allows her to approach business questions from a broader perspective.
Not simply, “Can we do this?”
But also:
“How does this fit into the business you’re trying to build?”
Fogg & Cole Law does not replace your accountant, tax professional, financial advisor, insurance professional, or other business advisors. When appropriate, we believe those professionals should work together.
Because good business planning often requires more than one perspective.
When There Is More Than One Owner
Today's Handshake Can Become Tomorrow's Disagreement
Many businesses begin between people who know and trust one another.
- Brothers.
- Friends.
- Spouses.
- Parents and children.
- Business partners who have worked together for years.
When everything is going well, it can seem unnecessary—or even uncomfortable—to talk about what happens if something goes wrong.
That’s exactly why those conversations should happen while everyone is still getting along.
A properly prepared ownership or operating agreement can address questions such as:
- Who has authority to make decisions?
- How are profits and responsibilities divided?
- Can another owner be added?
- Can an owner sell to an outsider?
- What happens if an owner wants to leave?
- What happens if the owners disagree?
- What happens following disability?
- What happens if an owner divorces?
- What happens when an owner dies?
- How might the remaining owners purchase an ownership interest?
You aren’t preparing these agreements because you expect the relationship to fail.
You’re preparing them because the relationship—and the business—are worth protecting.
Protecting the Business While It Grows
Businesses change.
- A one-person company becomes an employer.
- A family operation adds another generation.
- A company buys property.
- Partners are added.
- Contracts get larger.
- New opportunities create new risks.
The legal structure that worked when the business began may not adequately address what the company has become.
Business360 provides an opportunity to periodically look at the legal side of the business and ask:
Does the structure we created years ago still fit the business we have today?
That may include reviewing ownership arrangements, governing documents, contracts, real estate matters, business transactions, succession provisions, and other legal issues affecting the company.
Sometimes the most valuable legal work happens before there is a legal problem.
Family Businesses Require a Different Kind of Planning
...because Thanksgiving Dinner Shouldn't Become a Shareholders' Meeting...
Family businesses have advantages that are difficult to duplicate.
Trust.
Shared history.
Commitment.
And often a desire to build something that lasts beyond one generation.
But family relationships can also make difficult business conversations easier to postpone.
- What happens when Mom and Dad want to retire?
- Which child will run the company?
- What if one child works in the business and another doesn’t?
- Should ownership and management be treated the same way?
- What is fair when “equal” may not actually be fair?
- How will the retiring generation receive income?
- What happens if the next generation doesn’t agree?
These aren’t simply business questions.
They’re business + financial + family + estate-planning questions.
That’s where the Fogg & Cole 360 approach becomes especially valuable.
When Business360 Meets Legacy360
For closely held business owners, business planning and estate planning shouldn’t exist in separate worlds.
Imagine an owner leaves a business equally to three children.
One child has worked in the company for 20 years.
One lives out of state.
One wants the business sold immediately.
A will may tell everyone who owns what.
It doesn’t necessarily solve what happens next.
That’s why Business360 connects directly with Legacy360.
Business ownership, succession documents, wills, trusts, beneficiary planning, incapacity planning, and the owner’s wishes for the next generation should work together rather than contradict one another.
Legacy360
Protecting your family and the legacy you leave behind.
When the Business Is Built on the Land
In Western Oklahoma, the line between a family business and family land can become even thinner.
A farming or ranching operation may involve:
- Multiple generations
- Family-owned land
- Leased acreage
- LLCs or partnerships
- Equipment
- Mineral interests
- Oil and gas interests
- Operating businesses
- Children who farm
- Children who don’t
That’s no longer simply business planning.
It’s Business360 + Legacy360 + Land360.
Fogg & Cole Law can help families consider how the business, land, ownership structure, and estate plan fit together.
Land360
Protecting your land. Planning its future. Preserving the farming legacy.
Serving Businesses Across El Reno and Western Oklahoma
Located in El Reno, Fogg & Cole Law serves business owners throughout Canadian County and Central and Western Oklahoma, including Yukon, Mustang, Piedmont, Union City, Minco, Hinton, Geary, Watonga, Calumet, Kingfisher, Okarche, Oklahoma City, and surrounding communities.
Business360 Legal Checkup
When Was the Last Time Someone Looked Under the Hood?
Businesses change faster than their legal documents.
An operating agreement prepared years ago may no longer reflect the owners.
A business may have grown substantially without updating its agreements.
A new generation may now be working in the company.
The owners may be approaching retirement without a succession plan.
Or perhaps the business was started online and no attorney has ever reviewed how everything fits together.
The Business360 Legal Checkup is an opportunity to step away from day-to-day operations and look at the bigger picture.
We can discuss:
- Your current business structure
- Ownership
- Governing agreements
- Key contracts and legal documents
- Business property
- Potential areas of legal exposure
- What happens upon disability or death
- Ownership succession
- How the business coordinates with your estate plan
- Your long-term plans for the company
You may discover that everything is in good shape.
Or you may discover something worth addressing before it becomes expensive.
Either way, you’ll know.
Start Your Business360 Conversation
You don’t need to wait until there’s a lawsuit, disagreement, or crisis to call a business attorney.
In fact, we’d rather meet you before there is one.
Tell us about your business.
How is it structured?
Who owns it?
Where is it going?
And what do you eventually want to happen to it?
We’ll help you identify the legal questions worth answering now—and the ones you should begin planning for tomorrow.
You Built the Business. Let’s Help Protect What You’ve Built.
Fogg & Cole Law
Protecting Families. Protecting Businesses. Protecting the Land and Legacies That Matter.