What does my will need to address if I own a business?

The agreement usually comes before the will

A shareholders' agreement or partnership agreement often includes a buy-sell provision, a right of first refusal, or a mandatory transfer on death that overrides what a will alone would otherwise do with those shares or that partnership interest. Under the Business Corporations Act, shares are property that can be left by will, but a valid restriction in the corporation's articles or a unanimous shareholder agreement still controls how and to whom they can be transferred.

Read that agreement before finalizing the will, not after.

Naming an executor who can actually run the business

An estate trustee inherits the legal authority to deal with a business interest, but not necessarily the skill or time to run it. Consider naming, or at least authorizing the estate trustee to hire, someone who understands the operations, or naming a co-executor specifically for the business while another handles the rest of the estate.

A will can also give the estate trustee express power to continue operating the business for a period, rather than being forced into an immediate sale.

Funding a buy-out so the business survives the transition

A buy-sell agreement is only as useful as the money behind it. Life insurance owned by the business or by co-owners, specifically to fund a buy-out on death, avoids forcing a surviving owner to find cash quickly or a family to accept a lowball offer. Coordinating that funding with the will and the shareholders' agreement, so all three point the same direction, is worth doing while every owner is still capable of signing off.

What happens without any planning

Without a will or a buy-sell agreement, a deceased owner's shares or partnership interest pass under intestacy or the estate trustee's general authority, often to family members who have no interest in running the business and no agreement with the surviving owners about price or process. That gap is where most forced sales, valuation disputes, and strained partnerships after a death actually originate.

Estate freezes and other tax-driven structures

Some business owners use an estate freeze or a family trust to shift future growth to the next generation while managing the tax triggered on death, structures set up well before the will itself is signed. These are planning tools built with an accountant and a lawyer together; the will still has to be drafted to work with whatever structure results, rather than assuming a simple share transfer will do.