A lot of businesses in this county have been in the same family for generations. Oyster houses, charter operations, marinas, restaurants, rental management companies, contractors. They were built by people who worked, not by people who filed paperwork — and a surprising number of them have never been formally organized at all.
That works right up until it doesn’t. Someone gets sick. A partner wants out. The founder dies and nobody knows who owns what. At that point the business — which is often the family’s entire livelihood — becomes a legal problem on top of a personal one.
This is the part of my practice that overlaps most with estate planning, because for most Franklin County families, the business and the legacy are the same thing.
Getting organized. LLC and corporation formation, operating agreements, partnership agreements, and the basic structure that separates your personal assets from your business risk. If you’ve been operating as a sole proprietor for twenty years, this is the conversation worth having.
Fixing what’s already there. Entities that were formed online years ago and never maintained. Partnerships with no written agreement. Businesses where the ownership on paper doesn’t match who actually runs the place. These get untangled more easily than people fear.
Planning the handoff. Buy-sell agreements, succession plans, and coordinating the business with your estate plan so it passes the way you intend — without a court proceeding pausing operations for months.
The document is the easy part. Choosing your agent is what deserves real thought — and it isn’t automatically your oldest child or your spouse. It should be whoever is organized, trustworthy, available, and able to say no to other family members when they need to. Those qualities don’t always live in the same person as “closest relative.
Franklin County adds its own wrinkles. Family land, rental property, a fishing operation with equipment and licenses — these need powers your agent can actually use. Generic forms don’t contemplate any of it.
Nothing is in writing.
Two brothers have run the operation together for thirty years on a handshake. One dies. His widow now owns a share of a business she has no interest in and no role at, and the surviving brother has no way to buy her out at a price anyone agreed to in advance.
The business stops when the owner does.
Bank accounts freeze. Licenses and permits sit in a dead person’s name. Contracts can’t be signed. Employees don’t get paid. The court can eventually sort it out, but “eventually” doesn’t cover payroll on Friday.
The estate plan and the business plan contradict each other.
The will leaves everything equally to three children. One of them actually runs the business, the other two live out of state. Equal shares turn a working company into a standoff.
Personal and business assets were never separated.
Without a properly formed and maintained entity, a business liability reaches the family home. This is the most common and most preventable problem I see.
Getting set up properly.
Keeping it in the family.
Fixing what’s already there.
Franklin County’s rental economy is substantial, and a lot of it operates informally — property held personally, income handled through a personal account, no entity and no agreement between family members who share it.
That creates two exposures. A guest injury becomes a claim against everything you own rather than against the business. And when the owner dies, the operation freezes at exactly the moment bookings are on the calendar and deposits are held.
Both are solvable. Usually with an entity, a clear agreement, and coordination with the estate plan so authority passes without a court order.
Planning is about preventing problems. When one has already landed — a contract dispute, a partnership breakdown, a regulatory or administrative matter — that work runs through Gellis Law, PLLC.
I’ve litigated more than 100 cases in Florida state and federal courts, argued dozens of appeals, and served as General Counsel of the Florida Department of Transportation. I’m board certified in State and Federal Government and Administrative Practice, a distinction held by fewer than 75 attorneys in Florida.
Same attorney, different practice. [Learn more at GellisLaw.com →]
The first conversation is free. Bring whatever paperwork exists — or tell me there isn’t any, which is more common than you’d think.
Probably. As a sole proprietor there's no legal separation between you and the business, which means a business liability reaches your house, your savings, and your other property. An LLC is inexpensive and it's the single most useful thing most small operators can do.
You can file the paperwork. What those services don't give you is an operating agreement, guidance on structure, or anything that keeps the entity properly maintained — and an LLC that isn't maintained can be disregarded when it matters. I see a lot of online-formed entities that wouldn't hold up.
For most Franklin County businesses, an LLC. It's simpler, more flexible, and has fewer formalities. Corporations make sense in specific situations involving outside investment or particular tax planning. We'd talk through your circumstances.
Flat fee, quoted before any work begins, plus the state filing fee. It's considerably less than most people expect.
Yes, and it's the most common one I see. Without a written agreement, Florida's default rules govern — and they may not resemble anything you two actually agreed to. Disputes, retirements, and deaths all become far harder to resolve.
An agreement setting out in advance what happens when a partner dies, retires, becomes disabled, or wants out — who can buy their share, at what price, and on what terms. It prevents the surviving partner from suddenly being in business with someone's spouse or children.
Absolutely, and it's worth doing. Documenting an existing arrangement is usually straightforward when everyone is still around and on good terms. It gets much harder afterward.
Without planning, it depends on how the business is structured and what your estate plan says. Accounts may freeze, licenses may lapse, and nobody may have authority to act until a court appoints a personal representative. That's often several weeks at minimum.
This is one of the most common succession questions, and there are good answers. The business can pass to the child who runs it while the others are made whole through other assets or a structured buyout. What doesn't work is leaving equal shares to children with unequal involvement.
Yes, and it's often the cleanest approach. A trust can hold the business interest and keep operations running without interruption if you die or become incapacitated. No court, no gap in authority.
Then the plan is about orderly sale or wind-down rather than succession — and knowing that in advance is valuable. A business sold on a planned timeline is worth considerably more than one liquidated in a hurry after a death.
Very much so. Vessels, licenses, permits, leases, and equipment all need to be accounted for, and some of those don't transfer as easily as people assume. Multi-generation operations in particular often have ownership histories that were never documented.
At minimum an entity holding the rental activity, a clear agreement if family members share ownership, and coordination with your estate plan so someone can act on the accounts and bookings immediately if something happens to you.
With a conversation about who actually owns what today. Sometimes that requires cleaning up a title or an estate that was never handled. It's more common here than you'd think, and it's fixable.
Yes, through Gellis Law, PLLC. I've litigated more than 100 cases in Florida state and federal courts. Forgotten Coast Law focuses on planning and formation; disputes run through the litigation practice.
Business formation documents, operating and partnership agreements, and buy-sell agreements, yes. For commercial contracts and negotiated transactions, that's Gellis Law work.
Gladly, and I'd encourage it. Entity choice has tax consequences, and the best structure is usually the one your attorney and accountant agree on rather than either deciding alone.
They should be built together. A succession plan that contradicts your will creates exactly the problem it was meant to prevent. If you're doing one, it's worth doing both.
For most family businesses, the succession plan and the estate plan are the same conversation.
Wills — who receives what, including the business
Trusts — holding the business so operations never pause
Powers of Attorney — who runs things if you can’t
Most people aren’t. Free consultation, no obligation — we’ll figure out what’s actually missing.
