Gary M. Remer is an experienced franchise, employee benefits and business lawyer. He assists business owners, including franchisors and franchisees, through all stages of their business development. Mr. Remer is a former Revenue Agent with the Internal Revenue Service, Employee Plans Division.

He works with franchisors and franchisees on sales and purchases, licensing, and financing. Mr. Remer assists clients with:

• Drafting franchise disclosure documents and submitting those documents to the "registration" States for authorization to sell franchises. This process not only entails complying with Federal and State franchise laws and regulations but insuring that the franchise disclosure documents addresses the impact of court decisions and government ruling on the franchise system.• Establishing advertising funds to manage and track advertising fees collected from franchisees. The advertising fund is used to develop local marketing materials, provide consistency in marketing/advertising programs, and promote communications between the franchisor and franchisees. • Negotiating franchise agreements to protect the interests of those purchasing a franchise. Franchise agreements contain various provisions that have an impact on franchisees, such as personal guaranties, covenants not to compete, and penalties for early termination.

As a specialist in the area of employee benefits, Mr. Remer helps clients with:

• Designing and drafting retirement plans providing annual benefit accruals for business owners in excess of $200,000.00.• Correcting retirement plan operational and document deficiencies such as excluding eligible participants, loan failures, untimely 401(k) deposits, and late amendments to retirement plan documents. Once the corrections are made, on behalf of his clients, he submits the retirement plans to the Internal Revenue Service and/or Department of Labor to protect the assets from becoming immediately taxable and reduce fiduciary liability.• Terminating employee stock ownership plans while developing succession plans for the businesses after the distribution of ownership to the employees.

As a business lawyer, he counsels clients in:

• Determining the proper business structure for a new venture.• Preparing shareholder agreements for the smooth succession of ownership.• Assisting business owners with exit strategies such as sales to employees, competitors, and employee stock ownership plans, or transfers to family members.

In addition to being an attorney, he is a Certified Public Accountant and serves as Chair of the MICPA Franchise Task Force and as Chair of the MICPA Membership Task Force. He is a past Council Member of the State Bar of Michigan Tax Committee and was an adjunct professor at Walsh College where he taught graduate tax classes focusing on pension and profit sharing plans, 401(k) plans, IRAs, SEPs, ESOPs, nonqualified deferred compensation plans, health care plans, insurance plans, and other common fringe benefits.

Mr. Remer speaks on employee welfare benefit plans, qualified retirement plans, franchising and other related topics, and is regularly featured as a subject matter expert in the media. He has presented at an AICPA Business Law Update in Little Rock, AK, numerous MICPA events across the State of Michigan, and the State Bar of Michigan Antitrust, Franchising & Trade Regulation Section’s Annual Franchise Law Update Seminar. Mr. Remer has appeared on Channel 7 Action News, WWJ News Radio 950 and has been quoted in major publications, such as the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press.