Legal Services for Buying a Franchise: FDD and Franchise Agreement Review

Home Services Buying a Franchise

How to Protect Yourself When Buying a Franchise

Guiding you Through the Franchise Purchasing Process

Now that you have identified a franchise opportunity that you are interested in and, by many accounts, are ready to purchase, it is critical to understand the steps in the franchise purchasing process, how to protect yourself, the FDD disclosures and the negotiated franchise agreement changes that need to be made to insulate and lock-down your rights as a prospective franchisee.

Led by Charles N. Internicola, Esq. and Brian Lincer, Esq. our franchisee representation program is focused on you, your goals and the expectations and understanding that you bring to the table as to why you are interested in a prospective franchise opportunity. Through our completely fixed fee franchisee representation program (with most rates set at a fixed fee of $1,850) Charles and Brian work with franchisees throughout the nation and will be working directly with you in understanding your franchise goals, reviewing the FDD and franchise agreement, preparing a detailed FDD report and evaluation, scheduled phone consultations, preparation of proposed franchise agreement amendments and negotiations with your franchisor. Our representation and the step-by-step process that we follow will provide invaluable guidance and know-how to your franchise investment.

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Our Process

Step by Step Representation to Protect Your Franchise Investment

Our franchise representation begins and ends with the unique goals and franchise expectations of each of our clients. So, our step by step representation process starts off with a conversation between us where we will talk about your goals and your franchise expectations. That is, why are you buying a particular franchise, what are your expectations as a franchisee, what promises have been made to you and what legal steps need to be taken to secure your franchise rights. From there, we engage in a detailed legal review of the FDD and franchise agreement, discussions about the franchise due diligence process, phone conferences with you throughout the process, negotiations with your franchisor and the preparation of proposed franchise agreement amendments.

1. The Initial Call: Understanding Your Expectations

Understanding more about you, how your franchise investment fits in and your franchise expectations and goal. During our initial call, based on your timing and the stage that you are at in the franchise review process, we schedule specific dates for the completion of our FDD review and preparation of our FDD and Franchise Agreement assessment.

2. FDD and Franchise Agreement Legal Review & Assesment

Once we understand your franchise goals and expectations we review the FDD and Franchise Agreement and prepare a detailed written report assessing the FDD, the franchise agreement and key legal and disclosure issues. We also prepare a draft franchise agreement addendum addressing and modifying key franchise agreement provisions. This review stage typically takes 4 business days.

Get The Guide Access Franchisee University

While we are reviewing the FDD and preparing our assessment we will be encouraging you to engage in additional due diligence steps which may involve questions or emails that we may prepare for you to send to the franchisor and for you to contact existing and former franchisees of the system. Also we have great resources for you in our Entrepreneurs Guide to Purchasing a Franchise and our Franchisee University Videos.

3. Preparation of Proposed Addendum to Franchise Agreement

Based on our FDD and franchise agreement assessment we prepare a proposed addendum to the franchise agreement. This addendum is a proposed agreement modifying the terms of the franchise agreement to address critical legal factors and franchise rights.

4. Planning and Strategy Session

After you have has the opportunity to review our detailed FDD and franchise agreement assessment and our proposed franchise agreement addendum, we schedule a planning and strategy call or calls to get your input, answer your questions and to finalize our negotiating strategy and the franchise agreement addendum that we will be presenting to the franchisor.

5. Negotiations with the Franchisor

We negotiate directly with the franchisor and their legal counsel. We also work with you on communications that you may also be having with the franchisor and the franchisor’s sales team.

6. Franchise Closing or Conclusion

Following negotiations we work with you through every stage of the franchise signing process. Also, if you decide to walk away from the transaction, we are also there to give you our candid guidance.

Post Closing Support

If you ever have questions about your franchise transaction, we are there for you.

Even after a franchise transaction closes, our clients frequently stay in touch with us and we are always here to answer questions about their franchise purchase and, in many cases, to assist with new transactions such lease agreements, purchase of additional businesses and business representation. In the end our, process is always about building enduring relationships with our clients. Call us at (800) 976-4904 or fill out our contact form so we can help answer any questions you may have.