Buy-Sell Agreements: The Importance Of Transition Planning
Consequently the death of an owner is the contingency on which we focus too exclusively when planning.
Consider two instances:
- The remaining owners buy out a departing partner under an agreement funded with life insurance. The coverage on the departing partner can be kept in force to provide remaining owners funds to pay-off the loan balance should the seller die during its term. It also relieves the departing partner of any concern whether or not the balance will be paid to his family should he die. This arrangement may be cleaner if the policy is transferred back to the insured and a collateral assignment is given in the amount of the loan balance. If so, tax issues and premium-payment arrangements would need to be ironed out.
- A younger key person buys out a retiring owner-employer. The retiring seller wants to be sure of payment in the event of the death of the key person-buyer during the term of the loan. Carriers do not recognize a creditor’s insurable interest in a debtor, so they won’t allow the seller to purchase coverage on the borrower. However, the borrower can buy coverage, justifying it as personal insurance, and give a collateral assignment for the balance and term of the loan.