We receive a lot of questions from dentists thinking about selling their practice: What will DMC LLP do for me? Here’s a quick breakdown:
1. Preparing Your Practice For Sale
Are you incorporated to take advantage of the lifetime capital gains exemption? Do you qualify? Do your lawyers and accountants need to update the minute book or remove offending assets from your corporation prior to the sale? Read this blog to find out more. If not, you could be heading into a large tax bill! A little bit of preparation and education goes a long way 😉
Are your team members (staff and associates) on contract? Do those contracts limit your risk when it comes to things like non-competes, non-solicits, and notice required on termination? Not having contracts in place is a sure-fire way to lose money when you go to sell your practice (or not have it sell at all!). Read this blog to find out more about introducing contracts to your team members.
Have you checked your lease recently? Does it have at least 10 years left, good basic rent, and no unfavourable terms (e.g. demolition clause, relocation clause, etc.). Is the landlord looking to keep you on as a guarantor of the lease after you transfer it to the purchaser? Is the landlord looking for thousands of dollars as part of consenting to the sale? Read this blog to find out why you shouldn’t trust your landlord!
2. Marketing Your Practice For Sale
We know buyers. Plain and simple. To get the word out that your dental practice is for sale, we do some online and offline marketing. Online marketing includes: CONFIDENTIALLY listing your practice for sale on www.DentalPlace.ca (only dentists who have signed confidentiality agreements can know your name, address, and receive your appraisal), posting updates about your practice on this website (which gets LOADS of traffic), and sending out regular eBlasts to hundreds of Ontario dentists with updates about your practice. In addition to online marketing, we also speak with our own clients (who have been looking to buy practices for a long time), and other professional advisors (e.g. bankers, accountants, dental suppliers, consultants, etc.). We set dates for open houses and when Letters of Intent are to be submitted by. We also conduct OPEN HOUSES and are present during chart audits and equipment inspections.
3. Selling Your Practice
Lawyers are the only professionals who can transact your deal. and we only work for ONE SIDE of the transaction (to do otherwise would be a conflict of interest). We prepare all the legal paperwork that goes into completing a purchase and sale transaction. This includes things like Letters of Intent, Agreements of Purchase and Sale, Closing Agendas and Closing Documents, conducting legal due diligence, dealing with creditors, updating your minute book, CLOSING the transaction, and doing POST-CLOSING clean up work. No one else can legally do these things. You actually want us doing them, since we went to university for 7 years, are licensed to practice law in Ontario, and carry insurance.
4. Put you in touch with the right people
If you need a dental practice appraiser, equipment/supply person, banker, accountant, insurance broker, etc., talk to us. We know everyone in the industry and can lead you in the right direction.
5. Educating the Parties
We do a lot to educate the buyer/seller about the transaction. This is all we do. So we figure it’s best to share our knowledge to ensure a smooth transaction.
If you’d like to speak with us about selling/buying a dental practice, just give us a call. We’re always happy to chat.
