Business Owners
Business Property Relief and the 2026 changes, shareholder agreements, business LPAs, succession, AIM portfolios, liquidity planning, and the structural decisions that determine whether the business survives the owner.
Written for owner-managers, founders, directors, and shareholders whose estate planning has to do more than the standard template. The guide covers the planning levers that matter most when the dominant asset is a trading company or an ownership stake in one.
What's inside
The standard estate planning template assumes passive assets. Business ownership changes almost every structural question. The tax position, the succession position, and the liquidity position. The guide walks through the distinct set of decisions business owners need to make.
01
The assumptions the standard template makes, why they break down for owner-managers, and the particular points of fragility.
02
What qualifies as relevant business property, the two-year ownership rule, excepted assets, and the limits on BPR in its current form.
03
The £1m cap, the 50% relief above it, what this means in practice for different size businesses, and the planning responses available.
04
Cross-option agreements, pre-emption rights, compulsory transfer provisions, and how the agreement interacts with the Will.
05
The separate LPA every owner-manager should have, the scope of authority it grants, and the cost of its absence when capacity is lost mid-trading.
06
Family succession versus sale, the timing decisions, earn-outs, and how the succession plan drives the Will structure rather than the other way round.
07
The BPR treatment of AIM-listed shares, the two-year qualifying period, the risks in the 2026 landscape, and where AIM portfolios fit within a wider strategy.
08
The cash gap that business estates often face on death, insurance solutions, cross-option funding, and the structural fixes that avoid a fire sale.
09
The line between the two, why it matters for relief, and the planning implications where a company is a mixture of both.
10
The signals that suggest specialist advice is material value, and how to prepare efficiently for a conversation with a private client solicitor.
Who wrote it
If you want professional help
The guide is everything you need before you decide whether to instruct a solicitor. It will help most readers either sort things out themselves through a clear execution route, or arrive at any advisory conversation already knowing what they want from it. If, after reading, you decide to engage professional help, these are the routes through Arvéla's chosen legal service provider. Prices are agreed up front.
An Arvéla service. All prices exclude VAT and court fees. Regulated legal work delivered by Arvéla's chosen legal service provider. See Your Legal Services for provider details.
Individual Wills and LPAs are priced at £350 + VAT each. Prices exclude VAT and court fees. The regulated legal work is delivered by Arvéla's chosen legal service provider under their own engagement terms, provided at the point of instruction. See Your Legal Services for provider details.
If you have read what you need and would like to engage, the configurator works out the price and sends your instruction. Fixed fees, no hidden costs.
Also available
Business Owners is one of four titles in the Arvéla planning library. The IHT and Your Family guide picks up the structural detail on reliefs where this guide covers the business-specific position. Buying the library together saves against buying the titles one at a time.
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All four titles: Essential Guide, IHT and Your Family, Blended Families, and Business Owners. Reduces the cost of the set by 10.5% against buying individually.
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An AI assistant trained on the guides you own, a scenario modeller for IHT and asset migration, an asset register, an IHT indicator, and a gift tracker. More than a template.