Do I Need An Attorney To Prepare A Simple Will?
I occasionally get asked if it is really necessary to hire an attorney to prepare simple estate planning documents. Usually, the answer is NO, however, I find that once I start asking a few questions, most people really don’t need a simple Will and they would be much better served with professional guidance. Let me […]
Pennsylvania Makes Significant Changes to Inheritance Tax Law
On July 9, 2013, Pennsylvania enacted new legislation that made significant changes to their inheritance tax law by exempting the transfer of small family owned businesses. (H.B. 465) A qualified family-owned business is defined as a proprietorship or entity with fewer than 50 full time employees and assets less than $5,000,000 at the decedent’s death. […]
Estate Planning with Illiquid Assets
One of the trickiest items that we must deal with as estate planners is to help clients transfer illiquid assets. Illiquid assets can include: retirement plans ownership in a family business real estate collectibles (such as artwork, baseball cards and comic books) expensive vehicles and even animals (such as thoroughbreds and show pets) Illiquid assets are tricky […]
Business Organization and Succession Planning
In 2007, I wrote about the importance of business succession planning. Nothing has changed. Having a clear plan as to how to transfer the ownership of a business is crucial. However, merely transferring your interest in a business to your next of kin is only part of the equation. A good business succession lawyer will […]
Business Succession Planning: FLLC
Some of you may have seen these scary statistics: According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, 90 percent of the 21 million small businesses in the U.S. are family-owned, but less than one-third of family-run companies succeed into the second generation, while only half of that make it to the third. Most often, the lack […]