Employee Stock Ownership Plan Services | DeWitt

Our attorneys have handled all aspects of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), from inception to termination and everything in between. Our law firm has worked with ESOPS of small businesses with fewer than 25 participants and very large corporation ESOPs with thousands of participants. Because all ESOPs are governed by federal law (ERISA), our lawyers represent ESOP companies or ESOP Trustees in Wisconsin and Minnesota, throughout the Midwest in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, and on a nationwide basis.

We offer clients guidance in the areas of:

Preparation and review of documents for an ESOP transaction
Counseling on fiduciary responsibilities as an ESOP Trustee
Preparation and amendment of ESOP plan documents, summary plan descriptions, distribution policies, unsolicited offer policies and other plan-related documents
Preparation of loan documents related to ESOP exempt loans
Counseling on ESOP tax consequences, including S Corp and Section 1042 elections
Preparation of IRS ESOP filings for determination letter requests and formal correction requests through the IRS’s correction programs
Counseling on ESOP companies in third-party merger and acquisition situations; and
ESOP litigation services

Our attorneys have developed relationships with the service providers necessary to fully establish and maintain an ESOP, including valuation experts, record keepers, third-party administrators, accounting firms, and lenders. We can recommend service providers when requested and are also able to work seamlessly with other service providers with whom the client already has a relationship.

Finally, we are proud to be a resource for ESOP education. Through authoring articles, speaking on podcasts, presenting at conferences and creating ESOP education videos , our goal is to make sure that business owners and/or their advisors can truly understand what an ESOP is and consider whether it might be a good fit for their business.

ESOP Video Library

The following videos describe various aspects of ESOPS, including what an ESOP candidate looks like as well as comments from business owners who used ESOPS as their succession strategy and more.

Quoted Articles | Podcasts – ESOPS

"Building Trends: ESOPS Gain Popularity with Construction Firms," Wisconsin Law Journal, February 2020
“ESOP Lawyer Gets Theatrical,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 21, 2016
“Eder Flag Co. Becomes Employee Owned,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 2, 2016
Growth Bomb Podcast, Episode 21, September 16, 2015
“ESOP May Be Short Answer to Complex Questions,” Employee Compensation newsletter, published by Business & Legal Resources, April 2015
“ESOPS in the Craft Brewing Industry,” The New Brewer Magazine, April 2014