Succession & Exit
For most owners, the business is the single largest asset they will ever sell, and the difference between a good outcome and a great one is decided years before the transaction, not at the closing table. By the time a deal is on the table, the structure, the tax position, and the continuity plan are largely fixed. The owners who do best are the ones who started planning while there was still time to shape all three.
Ascent helps you plan the transition long before it happens. We design the structure, tax positioning, and continuity arrangements that protect value through whatever path you choose: a sale to an outside buyer, a transfer to family or management, or an unexpected event none of us can schedule. Depending on the situation, that can include pre-transaction entity and tax planning, buy-sell and key person arrangements, deferred compensation designed to retain the people who make the business work, and coordination of the valuation, legal, and tax professionals who carry the deal across the line.
Succession is the payoff of everything else we do. The structure determines how the business can be sold, the tax plan determines how much of the proceeds you keep, the protection plan shields what comes out, and the estate plan directs where it ultimately goes. Planned together and early, they compound. Left to the months before a sale, they become a scramble.
Our role is strategy and coordination. We plan the exit and lead the team that executes it, so that when the time comes you keep more, transfer cleanly, and leave on your own terms.
A 30-minute conversation tells you everything.
No deck. No pitch. We'll listen to what you've built, ask the questions most advisors don't, and tell you honestly whether we think we can help.
Ascent Wealth Strategies provides strategic planning, design, and coordination. We are not a law firm or an accounting firm, we do not provide legal advice or prepare tax returns, and we do not provide investment advisory services or manage client assets. Strategies are implemented by your licensed attorneys, accountants, and other professionals, who are responsible for their execution.