Why It Matters
A business lawyer at Westcoast Wills & Estates can help you at every stage in your business. We’re here to navigate the corporate registry on your behalf and make the process as easy as possible for you.
Our corporate law team will work collaboratively with you and your other professional advisors, such as accountants, financial advisors and insurance brokers, to help you reach your business and financial objectives. We do this by getting to know you, your business needs, and your short and long-term goals, to determine which business structure is right for you.
Why Choose Us
Flat Fees
95% of our clients are charged predictable flat rates.
Specialization
We focus only on estate planning, probate, tax and corporate law.
Respected
With awards won and hundreds of 5-star reviews, we’re well known for our top-quality advice and friendly service.
Charitable
We donate 1% of all revenue to charity.
How We Can Help
We are company lawyers that can work with you to:
- incorporate a new company for you;
- reorganize the ownership structure of your company or society;
- incorporate a new professional corporation for you;
- dissolve or restore your company;
- register a sole proprietorship or partnership for you;
- file the annual records and maintain your company’s corporate records;
- implement corporate reorganizations, rollovers, and estate freezes for you in consultation with our tax lawyer;
- update your company’s records if there is a change of directors, officers, shareholders, or addresses;
- create or update your company’s transparency register;
- issue or transfer shares; and
- prepare a shareholders’ agreement or partnership agreement.
If you are a business owner who would like the advice of a corporate lawyer, contact us – we’d be glad to help.
Locations
See our Vancouver law office for company law.
See our North Vancouver law office for company law.
Incorporating a New Company
The corporate lawyers at Westcoast Wills & Estates can help you in incorporating a new company. We can advise if a company makes sense for you.
Corporate Reorganizations
The business lawyers at Westcoast Wills can guide you through a corporate reorganization in an easy to understand way.
Corporate Minute Books
Our corporate lawyers can help maintain your company’s corporate minute book and deal with the corporate registry, so that you can continue to focus on the success of your business.
Corporate Law FAQs
Here are some of the most common questions that our lawyers routinely hear.
There are many advantages to incorporating a company. Here are two. First, it protects your personal assets from any liability. If someone sues your company, if you have not incorporated, they can claim your personal assets, such as your home, investments, and vehicles if they are successful. If you have incorporated, they could only claim from the assets owned by the company. The second main advantage of incorporating is to save on taxes. Corporations pay lower tax rates than individuals, and they provide additional flexibility to save tax on the company’s own profits and potentially even other sources of income, like investments and capital gains.
To incorporate a company, there must be at least one individual who is over 19, of sound mind, and not bankrupt. An existing company can also incorporate a new company. Once the company has been created, it is required to file an annual report with the BC Registry along with yearly taxes. Any updates to the directors or shareholders of the company must also be reported to the Registry.
If a business has been incorporated, then it continues to exist after the death of a shareholder, director, or officer. Typically, an executor appointed in the deceased individual’s will serves as the interim director of the company, and transfers the ownership of the shares according to the terms set out in the will. If an individual has not incorporated their business, then it comes to an end immediately upon their death.
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