The Law Offices of Paul H. Appel – Your Trusted Business Law Partner in New Jersey
Ocean County · New Jersey
Brick's busy retail and service corridors are full of companies whose founding documents describe a business that no longer exists. Paul H. Appel brings operating agreements, leases and franchise terms up to date with how Brick owners actually run things.
The township's business map
Brick Township is one of Ocean County's larger municipalities, bounded by the Metedeconk River and Barnegat Bay, with Route 70, Route 88 and the Garden State Parkway carrying much of its commercial traffic and a short oceanfront section on the barrier island.
Shopping centers and strip plazas host restaurants, franchised service businesses, medical and dental practices, fitness studios and retailers; marinas and boat-related businesses line the waterways; and contractors and home-service firms work across the township and beyond. Many are owned by two or three people who formed an LLC years ago and have not looked at the operating agreement since.
The practice-overview work the firm does for Brick clients falls into four areas, set out below.
Practice areas
Governance
Roles shift, one member puts in more capital, another stops working in the business. An amendment adopted through the proper consents can realign management authority, distributions and buyout terms. The firm's corporate governance review is a structured way to find the gaps.
Leases
Shopping-center leases often include common-area charges, co-tenancy and relocation clauses, exclusive-use protections and radius restrictions. Those deserve review before signing, and again before exercising a renewal; see commercial lease agreements.
Franchises
A franchisee signs both a franchise agreement and a lease, and the two must line up on term, assignment and what happens on termination. The FTC Franchise Rule requires disclosure before signing, and New Jersey's Franchise Practices Act can limit termination for franchises that meet its thresholds. More on franchise agreements.
Co-owner protection
Fifty-fifty ownership is common and works until it does not. Written deadlock procedures, buy-sell triggers and a valuation method give equal owners a way forward without a lawsuit.
Governance check
Answer these against your current operating agreement. Any "no" is worth a conversation.
New Jersey does not require LLCs to hold annual meetings, but documented written consents for major decisions are good practice and help if a dispute ever arises.
Access to the firm
Paul works from a single office at 11 Crestwood Drive in Freehold; there is no Brick location. Brick owners typically begin with a call or video meeting, share documents electronically, and come to Freehold by appointment for signings or longer working sessions.
A governance update or lease review is usually quoted as a flat fee once the scope is clear, and businesses that want ongoing access to counsel can use the firm's monthly virtual general counsel arrangement. The Ocean County business law hub explains how the practice serves the rest of the county.
Questions & answers
Whenever ownership changes, a member's role or contribution changes significantly, the company takes on a major loan or lease, or the owners realize the agreement is silent on something important such as deadlock or buyouts. Amendments should follow the procedure the agreement itself sets, usually written consent of the required members.
Make sure the lease term and renewal options cover the full franchise term, that you can assign the lease to the franchisor or a buyer if required, and that the permitted use and any exclusive match the franchise concept. Check build-out obligations and opening deadlines against the franchisor's schedule so one document does not put you in default of the other.
Only as the operating agreement provides, unless they agree otherwise. Common tools are a tie-breaking manager, mediation then arbitration, or a buy-sell mechanism in which one owner names a price and the other chooses to buy or sell. Without a clause, the remedies can involve court proceedings, which is slower and costlier for everyone.
Nearby
Your attorney
Every matter at the firm is handled personally by Paul — the same attorney reads the documents, gives the advice and negotiates on your behalf.
Contact
Describe what the business is dealing with — a contract on your desk, a deal in progress, a dispute or a company you are about to form. You will hear back from the attorney who handles the work.
Start a conversation