NAFA member, Stephen Hofer, President, Aerlex Law Group, discusses the importance of using experienced professionals when it comes to aircraft acquisitions.
People who work in the private aviation industry constantly stress the need for would-be aircraft buyers and sellers to assemble a team of professionals to support them in the purchase or sale of business jet aircraft. That team includes brokers, attorneys, financial advisors, aircraft managers, technical advisors, lenders, insurers and title and escrow handlers. What’s critical, however, is that the members of the team actually have experience and expertise in handling private aircraft transactions. A failure to includes knowledgeable and seasoned pros on your team can have disastrous consequences.
The attorneys at Aerlex Law Group have handled over 1,000 whole and fractional aircraft acquisitions over the past 17+ years and while we regularly give this advice to potential or new clients, we tend to treat the guidance as pro forma, a given, “why of course, why would you do anything else?” That being said, I am approached periodically by would-be clients who want Aerlex to help them fix problems that have already erupted – and I am sometimes astounded to learn of mistakes that were made, even when the buyer or seller had legal counsel involved. What it proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that our industry has its own unique methods and protocols and those procedures are in place for a reason. Here are a couple of examples (names have been omitted and the facts have been changed somewhat to preserve confidentiality).
This article was published by Aerlex Law Group on October 19, 2022.
