Our Services
Comprehensive succession planning services tailored to preserve your family business legacy.
Asset Transition Planning
Strategic planning for transferring business assets through sale, gift, or inheritance structures.
Sale
Traditional (Stock Sale, Asset Sale, Liquidation) - These conventional sale structures provide immediate liquidity and clean transfers of ownership. Stock sales typically offer favorable tax treatment for sellers, while asset sales allow buyers to step up the basis of acquired assets.
Sale to an IDGT - An Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust sale allows you to transfer future appreciation to beneficiaries while maintaining income tax obligations, effectively providing a tax-free gift to heirs while generating steady income through installment payments.
Gift
Lifetime Exemption - Each individual can gift up to $13.61 million (2024) during their lifetime without incurring federal gift taxes. This exemption is particularly powerful when combined with valuation discounts on family business interests.
Annual Exclusion - Make tax-free gifts of $18,000 per recipient annually (2024), allowing systematic wealth transfer without affecting your lifetime exemption. Married couples can combine their exclusions to gift $36,000 per recipient.
Discounted Valuation - Family limited partnerships and other structures can create legitimate valuation discounts of 20-40%, allowing you to transfer more value while using less of your gift tax exemption.
GRAT - Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts allow you to transfer appreciation above a hurdle rate to beneficiaries tax-free, making them ideal for rapidly appreciating assets or during low interest rate environments.
Retention (Inheritance)
Transfer via Will - A testamentary transfer through your will provides maximum control during your lifetime but subjects assets to probate. This approach works well when coupled with portability elections to preserve unused exemptions for surviving spouses.
Transfer via Living Trust - Revocable living trusts avoid probate while maintaining full control during your lifetime. They provide privacy, expedited distribution, and seamless management succession while preserving all tax benefits of direct ownership.
Family Continuity Planning
Frameworks for maintaining family harmony and ensuring smooth generational transitions.
Equal vs. Fair
Understanding the difference between equal distribution and fair distribution based on individual circumstances and contributions. Equal treatment gives each family member the same amount, while fair treatment considers factors like involvement in the business, personal financial needs, and contributions made over time. Fair distribution often leads to better family harmony and business continuity than strictly equal splits.
Asset purchase options using life insurance
Using life insurance proceeds to provide liquidity for asset purchases between family members. Life insurance can fund buy-sell agreements, equalize inheritances for non-business heirs, or provide cash to purchase business interests from family members who want to exit. This strategy preserves business assets while ensuring all family members receive fair value.
Family Trustees
Benefits and considerations of appointing family members as trustees. Family trustees understand the family's values, history, and unique dynamics, often making decisions that align with family goals. However, this approach requires clear governance structures to prevent conflicts of interest and ensure that business decisions remain objective and professionally managed.
Professional Trustees
Advantages of using professional trustees for objective management and expertise. Professional trustees bring investment expertise, administrative capabilities, and emotional neutrality to family trusts. They can make difficult decisions without family bias, maintain confidentiality, and provide continuity through generational transitions while working with family advisors to preserve family values.
Communication
Establishing clear communication channels and expectations among family members. Regular family meetings, written family constitutions, and formal governance structures help prevent misunderstandings and conflicts. Clear communication about business performance, succession plans, and family member roles creates transparency and helps manage expectations across generations.
Business Succession Planning
Comprehensive strategies for transitioning business ownership and management to the next generation.
The Right vs. the Wrong Successors
A review of potential successors of various assets and the reasons to consider or dismiss these potential successors
Voting vs. Non-voting Stock
Voting stock gives shareholders the right to vote on company matters like electing the board of directors. Non-voting stock offers no such voting rights, but typically has the same financial benefits, like dividends. Companies use non-voting shares to raise capital without diluting control.
Common vs. Preferred Stock
Common stock offers voting rights and higher growth potential but comes with greater price volatility and lower priority for dividends and asset liquidation. Preferred stock provides fixed, prioritized dividends and a higher claim on assets than common stock, behaving more like a bond but typically with limited upside potential and no voting rights.
General vs. Limited Partners
General Partners actively manage a business and have unlimited liability for its debts, meaning their personal assets are at risk. Limited Partners, conversely, act as passive investors with limited liability, meaning their financial responsibility is capped at the amount of their investment, and they have no active role in daily management
Business Assets vs. Other Assets
Business assets are owned by a company for financial gain, such as equipment or intellectual property. Personal assets are owned by an individual for private use or investment, like a home, car, or savings account.
Successor Skill Building
Methods to increase and broaden the business acumen and skills of potential successors
Estate Planning
Comprehensive estate planning strategies to minimize taxes and ensure smooth wealth transfer.
Probate
Probate is the court-supervised process of authenticating a deceased person's will, inventorying their assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing the remaining property to the rightful heirs or beneficiaries.
Probate Free Assets
Probate-free assets pass directly to named beneficiaries or surviving joint owners without court supervision. Common examples include life insurance policies, retirement accounts, Payable-on-Death (POD) bank accounts, Transfer-on-Death (TOD) securities, and property held in a living trust.
Wills
A last will and testament is a legal document that directs how your assets are distributed, names guardians for minor children, and appoints an executor to manage your estate. It provides a clear plan, preventing family disputes and ensuring your final wishes are honored, rather than leaving decisions up to state law.
Living Trusts
A living trust is a legal arrangement that holds a person's assets while they are alive. It transfers ownership to a trustee, often the person themselves, to manage for beneficiaries. Upon the person's death, the assets are distributed to heirs without going through the public, often lengthy, probate court process.
Annual Exclusions
The annual exclusion is the maximum amount an individual can gift to another person each year without incurring a gift tax or affecting their lifetime gift and estate tax exemption. It is a useful estate planning tool.
Life Insurance
Life insurance is a contract where you pay regular premiums to an insurer, who then pays a lump sum (a death benefit) to your designated beneficiaries upon your death. This financial payout helps your family cover expenses like outstanding bills, funeral costs, or replacing lost income, providing financial security during a difficult time. It's a way to ensure your loved ones are financially supported when you are no longer there to provide for them.
Lifetime Exemption Portability
Lifetime exemption portability lets a surviving spouse inherit their deceased partner's unused federal estate and gift tax exclusion. This is not automatic and requires the executor to file an estate tax return (Form 706). The transferred amount, known as the Deceased Spousal Unused Exclusion (DSUE), can reduce future estate tax liability for the survivor.
Completed Gifts
A completed gift is an irrevocable transfer of property from a donor to a beneficiary, where the donor gives up all ownership and control. The donor cannot revoke the gift or regain an interest in the assets, and the beneficiary gains full control. For tax purposes, this transfer is final.
Life Insurance Structuring and Review
Strategic life insurance planning to optimize tax benefits and provide liquidity for succession plans.
Life Insurance Policy Review
Life insurance contracts are more complex than ever and must be reviewed periodically to assure the benefits will be provided when needed, in the most tax-efficient manner possible.
Trust-owned Life Insurance
If your trust owns life insurance, the policy must be reviewed to assure longevity. There are many variables in expenses and performance which can affect the viability of the future benefit. There are also many types of trusts that may own life insurance contracts; each with unique benefits and limitations. Trustees must understand these details and be able to articulate those to the beneficiaries at the appropriate time.
Corporate-owned Life Insurance
The structuring and compliance with Federal and State regulations will determine the taxable nature of both cash values and death benefits. These details should be reviewed to assure maximum value to the corporation, shareholder, and employee.
Business Structuring and Risk Management
Strategic business entity structuring and comprehensive risk management to protect your assets and ensure regulatory compliance.
Business or Hobby 9-Factor Test
Determine if your business qualifies as a for-profit business under IRS regulations using the 9-factor test (Regs. Sec. 1.183-2(b)). This analysis examines how you operate your business, your expertise, time commitment, asset appreciation expectations, past success, profit patterns, financial status, and motives. Download the complete guide for detailed evaluation criteria.
Protecting Assets and Limiting Liabilities
Comprehensive strategies for forming separate business entities, implementing multi-entity structures, maintaining proper corporate formalities, obtaining appropriate insurance coverage, and utilizing trust structures for asset protection. Learn about establishing legal barriers between personal and business assets, proper documentation practices, and compliance requirements. Download the complete guide for detailed implementation steps.
Asset Transition Planning
Strategic planning for transferring business assets through sale, gift, or inheritance structures.
Sale
Traditional (Stock Sale, Asset Sale, Liquidation) - These conventional sale structures provide immediate liquidity and clean transfers of ownership. Stock sales typically offer favorable tax treatment for sellers, while asset sales allow buyers to step up the basis of acquired assets.
Sale to an IDGT - An Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust sale allows you to transfer future appreciation to beneficiaries while maintaining income tax obligations, effectively providing a tax-free gift to heirs while generating steady income through installment payments.
Gift
Lifetime Exemption - Each individual can gift up to $13.61 million (2024) during their lifetime without incurring federal gift taxes. This exemption is particularly powerful when combined with valuation discounts on family business interests.
Annual Exclusion - Make tax-free gifts of $18,000 per recipient annually (2024), allowing systematic wealth transfer without affecting your lifetime exemption. Married couples can combine their exclusions to gift $36,000 per recipient.
Discounted Valuation - Family limited partnerships and other structures can create legitimate valuation discounts of 20-40%, allowing you to transfer more value while using less of your gift tax exemption.
GRAT - Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts allow you to transfer appreciation above a hurdle rate to beneficiaries tax-free, making them ideal for rapidly appreciating assets or during low interest rate environments.
Retention (Inheritance)
Transfer via Will - A testamentary transfer through your will provides maximum control during your lifetime but subjects assets to probate. This approach works well when coupled with portability elections to preserve unused exemptions for surviving spouses.
Transfer via Living Trust - Revocable living trusts avoid probate while maintaining full control during your lifetime. They provide privacy, expedited distribution, and seamless management succession while preserving all tax benefits of direct ownership.
Family Continuity Planning
Frameworks for maintaining family harmony and ensuring smooth generational transitions.
Equal vs. Fair
Understanding the difference between equal distribution and fair distribution based on individual circumstances and contributions. Equal treatment gives each family member the same amount, while fair treatment considers factors like involvement in the business, personal financial needs, and contributions made over time. Fair distribution often leads to better family harmony and business continuity than strictly equal splits.
Asset purchase options using life insurance
Using life insurance proceeds to provide liquidity for asset purchases between family members. Life insurance can fund buy-sell agreements, equalize inheritances for non-business heirs, or provide cash to purchase business interests from family members who want to exit. This strategy preserves business assets while ensuring all family members receive fair value.
Family Trustees
Benefits and considerations of appointing family members as trustees. Family trustees understand the family's values, history, and unique dynamics, often making decisions that align with family goals. However, this approach requires clear governance structures to prevent conflicts of interest and ensure that business decisions remain objective and professionally managed.
Professional Trustees
Advantages of using professional trustees for objective management and expertise. Professional trustees bring investment expertise, administrative capabilities, and emotional neutrality to family trusts. They can make difficult decisions without family bias, maintain confidentiality, and provide continuity through generational transitions while working with family advisors to preserve family values.
Communication
Establishing clear communication channels and expectations among family members. Regular family meetings, written family constitutions, and formal governance structures help prevent misunderstandings and conflicts. Clear communication about business performance, succession plans, and family member roles creates transparency and helps manage expectations across generations.
Business Succession Planning
Comprehensive strategies for transitioning business ownership and management to the next generation.
The Right vs. the Wrong Successors
A review of potential successors of various assets and the reasons to consider or dismiss these potential successors
Voting vs. Non-voting Stock
Voting stock gives shareholders the right to vote on company matters like electing the board of directors. Non-voting stock offers no such voting rights, but typically has the same financial benefits, like dividends. Companies use non-voting shares to raise capital without diluting control.
Common vs. Preferred Stock
Common stock offers voting rights and higher growth potential but comes with greater price volatility and lower priority for dividends and asset liquidation. Preferred stock provides fixed, prioritized dividends and a higher claim on assets than common stock, behaving more like a bond but typically with limited upside potential and no voting rights.
General vs. Limited Partners
General Partners actively manage a business and have unlimited liability for its debts, meaning their personal assets are at risk. Limited Partners, conversely, act as passive investors with limited liability, meaning their financial responsibility is capped at the amount of their investment, and they have no active role in daily management
Business Assets vs. Other Assets
Business assets are owned by a company for financial gain, such as equipment or intellectual property. Personal assets are owned by an individual for private use or investment, like a home, car, or savings account.
Successor Skill Building
Methods to increase and broaden the business acumen and skills of potential successors
Estate Planning
Comprehensive estate planning strategies to minimize taxes and ensure smooth wealth transfer.
Probate
Probate is the court-supervised process of authenticating a deceased person's will, inventorying their assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing the remaining property to the rightful heirs or beneficiaries.
Probate Free Assets
Probate-free assets pass directly to named beneficiaries or surviving joint owners without court supervision. Common examples include life insurance policies, retirement accounts, Payable-on-Death (POD) bank accounts, Transfer-on-Death (TOD) securities, and property held in a living trust.
Wills
A last will and testament is a legal document that directs how your assets are distributed, names guardians for minor children, and appoints an executor to manage your estate. It provides a clear plan, preventing family disputes and ensuring your final wishes are honored, rather than leaving decisions up to state law.
Living Trusts
A living trust is a legal arrangement that holds a person's assets while they are alive. It transfers ownership to a trustee, often the person themselves, to manage for beneficiaries. Upon the person's death, the assets are distributed to heirs without going through the public, often lengthy, probate court process.
Annual Exclusions
The annual exclusion is the maximum amount an individual can gift to another person each year without incurring a gift tax or affecting their lifetime gift and estate tax exemption. It is a useful estate planning tool.
Life Insurance
Life insurance is a contract where you pay regular premiums to an insurer, who then pays a lump sum (a death benefit) to your designated beneficiaries upon your death. This financial payout helps your family cover expenses like outstanding bills, funeral costs, or replacing lost income, providing financial security during a difficult time. It's a way to ensure your loved ones are financially supported when you are no longer there to provide for them.
Lifetime Exemption Portability
Lifetime exemption portability lets a surviving spouse inherit their deceased partner's unused federal estate and gift tax exclusion. This is not automatic and requires the executor to file an estate tax return (Form 706). The transferred amount, known as the Deceased Spousal Unused Exclusion (DSUE), can reduce future estate tax liability for the survivor.
Completed Gifts
A completed gift is an irrevocable transfer of property from a donor to a beneficiary, where the donor gives up all ownership and control. The donor cannot revoke the gift or regain an interest in the assets, and the beneficiary gains full control. For tax purposes, this transfer is final.
Life Insurance Structuring and Review
Strategic life insurance planning to optimize tax benefits and provide liquidity for succession plans.
Life Insurance Policy Review
Life insurance contracts are more complex than ever and must be reviewed periodically to assure the benefits will be provided when needed, in the most tax-efficient manner possible.
Trust-owned Life Insurance
If your trust owns life insurance, the policy must be reviewed to assure longevity. There are many variables in expenses and performance which can affect the viability of the future benefit. There are also many types of trusts that may own life insurance contracts; each with unique benefits and limitations. Trustees must understand these details and be able to articulate those to the beneficiaries at the appropriate time.
Corporate-owned Life Insurance
The structuring and compliance with Federal and State regulations will determine the taxable nature of both cash values and death benefits. These details should be reviewed to assure maximum value to the corporation, shareholder, and employee.
Business Structuring and Risk Management
Strategic business entity structuring and comprehensive risk management to protect your assets and ensure regulatory compliance.
Business or Hobby 9-Factor Test
Determine if your business qualifies as a for-profit business under IRS regulations using the 9-factor test (Regs. Sec. 1.183-2(b)). This analysis examines how you operate your business, your expertise, time commitment, asset appreciation expectations, past success, profit patterns, financial status, and motives. Download the complete guide for detailed evaluation criteria.
Protecting Assets and Limiting Liabilities
Comprehensive strategies for forming separate business entities, implementing multi-entity structures, maintaining proper corporate formalities, obtaining appropriate insurance coverage, and utilizing trust structures for asset protection. Learn about establishing legal barriers between personal and business assets, proper documentation practices, and compliance requirements. Download the complete guide for detailed implementation steps.
Ready to Get Started?
Our team of experts is ready to help you build a comprehensive succession plan for your family business.