Since the business belongs to your Father in Law, you want to be sure of a couple of things. First, does he really want to sell the business to you ? It is not

Since the business belongs to your Father in Law, you want to be sure of a couple of things. First, does he really want to sell the business to you ? It is not very clear from you post so I want to confirm. If you think you can do a better job but he doesn't think so, then it wouldn't matter. Second, if you think he wants a say in it afterwards, you need to discuss and agree on exact role/boundaries for him if he will still be involved. It cannot be like "sell it to me and then we will figure out how we can work together". Don't do that. Instead, have a frank discussion with him and let him know that you either intend to NOT have him involved at all or you can hire him a consultant on demand. But boundaries have to be set. If you can get these 2 things in order, then I don't see why you cannot buy the business from him considering you seem passionate about this and you have experience in the business already.