The toughest part of drafting any shareholders' agreement is figuring out how to value the company when a "triggering event" (somebody dies, divorces, withdraws from the business, etc.) occurs and a shareholder must be bought out.

There are six basic approaches:

Nominal Value. Some shareholders' agreements attempt to penalize withdrawing shareholders who leave the company by valuing their shares for a nominal amount such as $1. Nominal valuation clauses are customary i ...

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