Back in the news is the Benson family. The Benson family owns multiple professional sports teams, including the Saints and the Pelicans. A conflict arose between Tom Benson’s third wife and his daughter Renee, leading Tom Benson to become estranged from his daughter and her two children. As a result, Tom attempted to transfer non-voting […]
Private Trust Companies A Primer
A private trust company, also known as a family trust company, is an entity that provides trust and fiduciary services to a single-family group. It is a state chartered, regulated entity and, as such, is prohibited from doing business with the general public. As more and more states enact legislation to encourage private trust companies (PTCs), these structures are gaining in popularity.
Basics of Real Estate Planning
The will has traditionally been a legal document responsible for directing the disposition of assets — including cash and financial assets, real property, collectibles and other personal belongings — upon death.
The Next 90 Days – Planning strategies for proposed IRS 2704 regs
Our last blog post discussed the potential repercussions from the new proposed IRS 2704 regulations, which could remove the proverbial icing off the cake for transfers in family-controlled entities. To put this in perspective, Mark Mazur, Treasury assistant secretary for tax policy, said in a statement that the proposed regs would eliminate a preference “that […]
Intra-family transfers…Is the icing on the cake gone for good?
When I was a kid, I always liked to eat the icing on the cake first – and probably most of you did as well. If the proposed IRS 2704 regulations are adopted in their current form, they will have the effect of virtually eliminating all the “icing on the cake” of a common estate […]
Duties of an Executor
Your executor can be a family member, friend, advisor, trust company or combination of these. In addition to managing and distributing the estate’s assets, the executor must engage in a series of complex and interrelated decisions over a period of time that often spans several years. These decisions can affect how much your estate will pay in income, estate and inheritance taxes, the amount your beneficiaries ultimately receive — and how quickly assets can be distributed.
Game ON! Gamification in Family Consulting
Our founder Holly Isdale spoke at the Family Firm Institute’s global conference in London on gamification in family business consulting. Gamification, the incorporation of game elements and game design techniques in non game contexts has been shown to increase engagement, retention and innovation in business applications. A long time user of games in family meetings […]
Letters of Intent
“It’s not what you say, it’s what they hear” is an important mantra in political campaigns (and most compliance discussions). Estate attorneys know this dilemma intuitively as we struggle to bridge the gap between the extremely technical and precise language of our documents required by the law and communicating these nuances to our clients. Planners also balance the reverse translation of documenting a client’s wishes, which are often enumerated in excruciating detail, with the need to leave discretion in the hands of trustees, providing necessary flexibility for the administration of trusts decades hence. We try to communicate to clients through newsletters, exhaustive memos as to trust administration and conferences, yet many of these efforts fail to educate clients as to the implications of technical decisions they are making or re-focus our clients on the ramifications of the choices being made.
Don’t Let Your Business Destroy Your Finances
I’ve built my career helping people ensure their finances can withstand life’s ups and downs. But still, I often see people who neglect to protect their personal finances from their business. Geoff Williams of U.S. News gives us some great tips for keeping business and personal finances separate in his piece, How to Keep Your […]
The Seven “C”s of Financial Management
I was talking with a client about stress and he shared that he worries about his finances nightly. As his net worth would dwarf many within the 1%, this seemed odd but as I too am usually awake in the middle of the night with some epiphany about a client situation or worrying about something […]
Trustees: Risk Mitigation and Best Practices
Acting as a trustee, in an individual capacity, carries with it risks and responsibilities that need to be understood by anyone stepping into that capacity. Trustees can be held personally liable for failure to adequately serve the needs of the trust and its beneficiaries. Pursuing a fiduciary role through a Private Trust Company (PTC) insulates individuals from their personal risk to some extent but transfers those risk to the PTC. Managing the liability is not always easy, but achievable, if the trustee follows certain policies and procedures, approaching the management of all trusts and execution of it activities in a professional and responsible manner. There are several areas where the trustee can take action to minimize its liability.
Shareholder Agreements: A Brief Primer
Shareholder agreements, also called Buy-sell agreements, are a contractual obligation entered into among the shareholders of a company or other entity (partnership, LLC, etc.) to govern when and how shares are transferred between and among shareholders. They may extend to include gifting and other donative transfers of shares or simply cover the dissolution of a company. These agreements can be created at any time by the shareholders of a company and can apply to all issued shares or just to those shares owned by parties to the agreement. There are significant tax considerations to redemptions that are beyond the scope of this initial discussion that should be considered as well.