Mitchell Charlesworth were recently approached by a solicitor practice requiring urgent assistance regarding business continuity. The well established practice, with a staff of over 20, had been owned and ran by a sole director/shareholder, and dealt with an array of clients and suppliers on a daily basis.
Unfortunately, and very unexpectedly, the business owner, aged 55, passed away leaving a partner and two young dependent children.
As a result, the business ground to a halt. Although there was a bank mandate in place for the senior solicitors in the practice, the bank’s procedures required a director of the company to be able to execute the daily transactions. The employees were due to be paid in two days and suppliers had been promised payments.
There was no will, disaster plan or key man insurance; therefore, automatically, the deceased’s partner, as next of kin, became the administrator of both the estate and the business. As the business was a solicitor practice, it proved even more complex due to the stringent ownership rules.
The family required our assistance and expertise to move this forward and guide them, and the practice, through this difficult time. If a will or disaster recovery plan had been in place, this would have been a very simple exercise.
