For the next few weeks my posts will focus on issues discussed during the continuing legal education class I taught at the McLean Estate Planning Council in September.

The subject at hand is the types of brawls that can arise in the course of a buy/sell agreement created as part of what is loosely called business succession planning.

Let’s start with the basics. A contract is only as good as the muscle you want to put into fighting for it. If you’re not willing to fight, then it really doesn’t matter how well the contract is written. Before you even think about a buy/sell agreement, or any kind of contract, you really need to ask yourself: Are you willing to fight to protect it? If not, why are you wasting time and money having a contract drawn up?

Next post we’ll look at one of the keys to effective buy/sell agreements: money.