Business Law Breakdown: Issues When Relocating or Expanding Your Business to a New Location

Jim Howicz helps with business formation, issues with corporation documents, and with employee issues.  Basically, taking care of all kinds of issues that help businesses make money and reduce their risk.

What do I need to do if my business is moving or expanding?

If a business is going to open up in a new location or expand to a new location, there is a number of things that a business owner should think about beforehand.

Can I open a business in a new location?

The first issue is whether or not you can actually open your business in that location. If you are a business that requires a license or some kind of permit to operate, you really need to make sure you can conduct that business in the new location.

Do business operations need to change when my business moves?

The second issue that a business owner should think about is, once I open up in a new location, are there any changes to the business that need to take place in order to operate the same way as in the old location. This is especially true if you are going to do business overseas, because not only is the licensing and legal structure different, but the culture is very different too, so you may have an employee base that you will have to train differently to accomplish what you are trying to accomplish.

Is the state my business is moving to business-friendly?

Speaking of the employee base, a big issue with expanding to a new location is considering what changes you need to make to your employment and HR structure. Some states are very friendly toward employees and employee issues, and some states are very favorable toward the business. For instance, Texas is the second-most business-friendly state in the county. If you are going to do business here and then open a branch in California, it’s very different. You would have to change a lot of your procedures and have a pretty strong HR structure in place in order to handle that.

What are the different state insurance requirements for businesses?

Another thing is that if you operate in a different location, you’re going to have different issues with insurance. Insurance is an industry that is regulated solely by the states. So, if you’re operating in Texas, Texas insurance rules apply. If you move to a new state, then you will need to get insurance policies that are governed by the state that you’ve moved to.

What is the best practice for moving or expanding a business internationally?

If you’re expanding internationally, it really is best to have advisors that are very specific to the country that you’re moving to. One of the good things about Richards Rodriguez and Skeith is that we belong to a group of international law firms, so we have resources all around the globe that can do this.

If you have additional questions about relocating or expanding your business to a new location, you can contact Richards Rodriguez & Skeith.