How can solicitors help clients prepare for a business exit?
Solicitors can help clients prepare for an exit long before a transaction by putting ownership, shareholder agreements, governance, key contracts and corporate records in order. Early legal preparedness reduces delay and risk later, and specialist planning or transaction support can be introduced when the client is ready.
Written by Tony Vaughan
Last reviewed: · Editorial policy
Legal preparedness is one of the easiest things to fix early and one of the hardest to fix under transaction pressure.
Where you can help most
- Ownership and shareholders
- Clear share registers and up-to-date shareholder agreements, including leaver and drag/tag provisions.
- Governance
- Board minutes, statutory books and filings in order.
- Succession
- Wills, lasting powers of attorney and emergency arrangements that cover the business.
- Contracts
- Key customer, supplier and employment contracts in writing and assignable where needed.
- Transaction support
- Introducing specialist sale support while remaining the client's legal adviser.
Business owner
Existing professional adviser
ExitPlanning specialist support
You keep the client relationship
For each client you choose how involved to be: introduce and hand over, work alongside us, stay involved through a transaction, or decide case by case. Your enquiry starts with an experienced ExitPlanning adviser. Together we clarify the client’s objectives and agree what specialist capability, if any, is appropriate.
Exit Partners does not provide legal advice.
Which corporate records are worth checking before a client has even chosen an exit route?
Start with ownership and governance records: clear share registers, up-to-date shareholder agreements, board minutes, statutory books and filings. Checking these early can reduce later delay and risk. Leaver and drag/tag provisions also merit review. The point is to surface gaps while there is time to address them, rather than first reconstructing the company’s records under transaction pressure.
My client’s key customer arrangements are informal. Why raise that before a sale process?
Raise it because written key contracts and, where relevant, assignability affect legal readiness. Early review gives the client an opportunity to understand gaps in customer, supplier and employment arrangements before a transaction creates pressure. This is a preparation question for the client’s solicitor, not a conclusion that every contract must be transferred or that the same contractual solution fits every exit route.
A client has a planned successor. What separate contingency should their solicitor still discuss?
Discuss emergency arrangements covering the business if the owner cannot act as expected. Wills, lasting powers of attorney and emergency arrangements form part of succession preparation. A planned handover does not by itself address those contingencies. The solicitor can review them alongside ownership and governance readiness, while specialist exit-planning support addresses the commercial transition. The relevant legal documents and arrangements remain matters for the client’s legal adviser.
Confidential consultation
The earlier you plan, the more options you keep.
A discreet, no-obligation conversation about your plans, your timing and what would make the business more transferable.