Business legacy planning, for what you built.
Make sure your business’s legacy lasts for generations, with legacy and estate planning for business owners in Texas and New York.
Business legacy planning decides who will own and run your company, and who will control its brand and intellectual property, if you retire, become incapacitated or die.
Modern Mark offers legacy and estate planning for business owners in Texas and New York, working with a trusted estate planning partner.
What is business legacy planning?
Estate planning built around a business. It sets who takes over ownership and management, how the business is valued and transferred, and who controls its brand and intellectual property.
- A succession plan. Who runs the business, and when.
- Buy-sell terms. What happens to an owner’s share, if the business has co-owners.
- Company documents. An operating or company agreement that matches the plan.
- Wills and trusts. Estate documents that cover your business interests.
- Your intellectual property. Who owns and earns from your trademarks and copyrights.
What happens to my trademarks and copyrights when I die?
They pass like other property, under your will or trust, or under state law if you have neither. For most works, copyright lasts 70 years after the author’s death, so it matters who will control and earn from it.
A trademark stays alive only while it is used, so the plan should name who will keep the business, and the brand, running. Holding the IP in the company often makes the handoff simpler than holding it in your own name.
Do business partners need a buy-sell agreement?
Usually. It sets what happens to an owner’s share on death, disability, divorce or departure, and how that share is valued and paid for, so the remaining owners don’t end up in business with an heir.
Do you handle estate planning outside Texas and New York?
No. Legacy and estate planning is limited to Texas and New York. Trademark and copyright work remains nationwide.
How it works.
Tell us your needs
Fill out our matter evaluation form. The more detail you provide, the better we can help.
Free matter evaluation
We review your information and determine how we can best help. Free of charge, no commitment.
Schedule your Strategy Session
If we can help, you’ll get a link to a 45-minute strategy session with clear next steps and a quote.
More questions.
Q01When should I start legacy planning?
Once the business has real value, or partners and employees who depend on it. Review the plan after big changes, such as a new partner, a sale or a new child.
Related services.
Trademark Registration
A clearance search and strategy before a USPTO filing that holds up.
Trademark Enforcement
Cease-and-desist letters, takedowns, UDRP, cancellations and monitoring.
Copyright
Copyright registration, DMCA takedowns when work is copied, and licensing.
Business Contracts
Custom contracts designed to hold up.
Business Formation
The right entity, filed correctly, in nearly any state.
Marketing Compliance
FTC and FDA review of ads, product claims and influencer deals.
Fractional General Counsel
A lawyer on speed-dial, without a full-time hire.
Trademark Monitoring
A year-round watch for copycat filings, with monthly attorney reviews.
Trademark Licensing & Monetization
Licensing, assignments, franchising and co-branding deals that turn a brand into income.
IP Litigation
Trademark, copyright and trade secret disputes, taken to court when a letter isn’t enough.
Trademark Oppositions
Received a Notice of Opposition? Your answer deadline and your options for defending or settling it.
Filed It Yourself?
Attorney help when a self-filed application gets an office action, refusal, abandonment, or opposition.
Foreign Applicants
USPTO rules require trademark applicants based outside the US to be represented by a US-licensed attorney.
Let's protect what you built.
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