The specialists at Duncan & Toplis provide legal and probate services, such as Wills, Inheritance Tax, Lasting Power of Attorney, and more.

Corporate

Our legal specialists know that when you're making big decisions in business, you benefit greatly from a guiding hand that ensures you're protecting your interests now and for the future.

Our team can assist you to make informed decisions - from getting into business and putting ownership agreements in place to share incentives that allow your employees to profit and efficient exit planning.

Choose Duncan & Toplis as your trusted legal services partner.

Reorganisations and demergers

Forming a new business, incorporating an existing one or dealing with the reorganisation of an existing business can be a complicated and complex process. Corporate restructuring and demergers are a great option for businesses which wish to succession plan, plan for a future exit, separate out different work streams, insert new holdings companies or create tax efficiencies.

With a detailed knowledge of all kinds of business structures and a close relationship with the Duncan & Toplis tax and accounting teams, we can provide a holistic and seamless service from start to finish, providing a comprehensive and attentive service which aligns with your goals and objectives given by you and your business advisers.

We regularly offer our expertise to all types of businesses, from farming partnerships to SMEs and large companies and have experience in acting in all types of restructuring and demergers at varying levels of complexity including facilitating multi step reorganisations in a variety of jurisdictions. We also have well established links with advisers in different jurisdictions through our membership of the Kreston Global network, meaning no reorganisation is too complex for us!

Employee incentivisation

There are lots of options available to reward and incentivise employees from employee incentive share schemes (EMI schemes), growth shares and share options.

We work closely with the Duncan & Toplis tax team to implement such schemes as a way of attracting and rewarding employees ensuring a “joined up” approach across the Duncan & Toplis group. Our legal advisers have expertise in drafting share schemes rules, option agreements and growth share articles for a range of businesses, from start-ups to blue chip companies and household names.

Selling a business in the UK

Whatever your reasons for selling a business, it can be a lengthy and complicated process, whether the sale involves the sale of business assets or shares.

The seller and the buyer should consider which of these two options is best for them, as there are a number of implications for each.

Due diligence is an essential part of buying a business. This stage will enable a buyer to gain as much information as possible about the business they are hoping to purchase. Our experts have a wide range of experience in carrying out financial due diligence to ensure that our clients can make an informed decision.

At Duncan & Toplis, we support buyers and sellers of businesses to ensure that they remain compliant at every stage of the process. We can help you get the best deal, providing you with expert insights and advice for as long as you need.

Partnerships and partnership agreements

Our team of experts have helped many businesses navigate partnership agreement law to share the profits and challenges of business.

Every partnership is unique, as each party will have different requirements and expectations from an agreement. We work closely with you to understand and advise you on the best actions for your partnership based on the relevant law.

Our experts can help you draw up a tailored partnership agreement that suits your needs and that of the partnership - from silent partnerships to sharing different portions of profits based on investments and hours committed.

Existing partnerships without agreements in place should consider having a partnership agreement to formalise the arrangement and ensure profits, losses and liabilities are to be shared agreeably.

Companies

The finances of a business can make or break a company, so seeking professional advice to ensure you’re on track is a great way to share the responsibility with experts who can help you make sense of the complex world of company law and compliance.

Our team has extensive experience in a number of areas of company finance, including; shareholder agreements, articles of association and classes of shares, share incentives and share options, reorganisations, dividends and distributions, purchase of shares, share and bonus issue and joint ventures.

Private equity

Private equity is a source of investment capital that comes from individuals that buy stakes in companies, with the aim of earning a return on investment. We have a great deal of experience acting for investors as they invest or exit a company, as well as management teams involved in the process.

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