Buy-Sell Agreements Appraisals
Valuation for triggering events, funding, and periodic agreement updates.
Business valuation is not a state-licensed activity, and the work is document-driven rather than site-driven. NextPhase accepts these engagements anywhere in the United States and internationally. Expect to provide substantial financial records — see what we'll need below.
What drives the number
Most buy-sell agreements contain a valuation clause that has never been tested. When a triggering event arrives — death, disability, departure — the parties discover the formula is stale, ambiguous, or produces an absurd number. A current independent valuation is far cheaper than the litigation that follows.
Commonly appraised
- Triggering event valuations
- Periodic agreement updates
- Insurance funding adequacy
- Partner departure and admission
- Shareholder redemption
- Formula clause review
What we'll need from you
- The buy-sell agreement and any amendments
- Three to five years of financial statements
- The triggering event and its date, if one has occurred
- Ownership schedule and any prior transfers
- Any existing life or disability funding in place
Where the agreement specifies a value standard or formula, the report applies it and separately identifies what an independent conclusion would be if they differ.
| Scope | Typical fee |
|---|---|
| Sole proprietorship / simple | $2,500 – $5,000 |
| Small business, single entity | $5,000 – $9,000 |
| Professional practice | $7,500 – $12,000 |
| Complex / litigation / multi-entity | $12,000 – $20,000+ |
Related business valuation assets
Common questions
Can you value a business outside Arizona?
Yes, anywhere in the world. Business valuation is not a state-licensed activity and the work is driven by financial records rather than a site visit. Be prepared to provide substantial documentation — the quality of the records largely determines the quality of the conclusion.
What will you need from us?
Three to five years of financials or returns, current interim statements, the governing agreements, and detail on owner compensation and non-operating assets. Incomplete records do not stop an engagement, but they narrow what the report can credibly conclude, and the report will say so.
How long does it take?
Typically three to six weeks from the point all financial records are in hand. Litigation matters with a firm court date are scheduled around that date.
Do you apply discounts for lack of control or marketability?
Where the assignment and the interest being valued support them, yes — and the report documents the basis for each. Unsupported discounts are the fastest way to lose a valuation in court.
Ready for a number you can defend?
Tell us what you have and what it's for. You get a fixed written quote — never an hourly meter, never a sales call.
What the work actually looks like
Real assignments, client details removed — what each engagement actually turned on, rather than how it felt.
A house, a workshop of machine tools, a forty-year firearms collection and a stake in the family company — four disciplines that three appraisers had only partly covered. One engagement, one effective date, one set of assumptions.
A donation the regulations would have aggregated past the appraisal threshold, which the donor had assessed item by item. One qualified appraisal covering the group, itemized, signed inside the window the regulations allow.
An opposing report whose number was not obviously wrong — which is what made it dangerous. It failed on its own certification, and was answered section by section with an independent valuation to the correct definition of value.