Business succession planning: the exit routes an owner can take, who advises on each and what they charge
Succession is a choice between routes before it is a choice between buyers. A trade sale, a transfer to family, a management buyout and an employee stock ownership plan each carry a different timeline, a different tax outcome and a different set of advisers. This section maps the routes and the advisers who work each one, with the fees they publish, so the first decision is made on the right information.
- median published commission
- 8%
- firms publishing a commission at all
- 3
- seller segments with a published comparison
- 2
Figures on this page come from the fee record on this site: 3 firms checked against their own published pages, on the dates shown.
- 3 firms' pages readevery figure matched verbatim to the firm's own page
- Quoted and dated, never summarizedlast verification pass 2026-09-10
- 2 seller segments comparedthe two scopes where more than one firm publishes a fee
How to plan a succession before an adviser is engaged
- Decide the route before the buyer. A trade sale maximises price, a family transfer maximises continuity, and an employee ownership plan sits between them on both. Choosing the route first tells you which advisers to call, because a broker, an estate attorney and an ESOP consultant do not overlap.
- Fix the timeline the route needs. A trade sale runs six to twelve months from preparation to close; a family transfer or an employee plan can take years to structure and fund. The date you want to be out of the business sets which routes are still open.
- Read what each adviser charges. Brokers publish a success fee as a percentage of the sale price, attorneys quote hourly or fixed fees for the transfer documents, and plan consultants charge for the feasibility study and the annual administration. The exit adviser board in this section carries each published figure.
- Value the business the way the route values it. A buyer prices on earnings and risk, a family transfer on a fair market appraisal the tax authority will accept, and an employee plan on an independent valuation the trustee commissions. The same business carries three defensible numbers, and the route decides which one applies.
Common questions
- What does business succession planning cost?
- The advice is priced by route: a broker's success fee at close, an attorney's fee for the transfer documents, or a plan consultant's feasibility study. The adviser board on this section lists the fees each firm publishes, read on a stated date.
- How long before selling should succession planning start?
- Advisers publish two to five years as the preparation window for a sale, because clean financials, transferable contracts and a management layer that runs without the owner each take time to build and each moves the price.
- Is a family transfer cheaper than a sale?
- The advisory fees are usually lower, but the tax treatment of a gift or a discounted sale to family can cost more than a broker would have. The comparison is after tax, and it needs an appraisal either way.
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Coverage by selling route
Sources
Cite or embed this figure
The published seller commission as a percentage of the sale price in the US business sale market was 8% in September 2026, across 3 verified fee pages recorded in Sell My Business Quotes Business Sale Fee Record.
Cite as: "Sell My Business Quotes Business Sale Fee Record", updated 2026-09-10, https://sellmybusinessquotes.com/succession/.