Estate Planning and Administration

A couple came to us concerned about estate taxes, asset protection and succession planning. They wanted to provide for their children, but they wanted their children’s inheritances to be protected from creditors. We first considered the couple’s needs without thinking of the tax ramifications, as we wanted to a plan that met their wishes and was not driven by taxes. We then considered how to achieve the couple’s goals in a way that was both tax-efficient and flexible, to allow for additional planning as conditions changed. Ultimately, we created a limited partnership in which the clients, their children, trusts, and a limited liability company were partners. The couple and their children each contributed assets to the partnership, and the couple then sold and gifted partnership interests to the trusts, which were for the children and grandchildren. The LLC managed the partnership, and was run by the children, who are now managing the family assets and diversifying the family’s business interests, including real estate developments and franchises. The couple also created a life insurance trust for the children and designated a family charitable foundation as the beneficiary of their large retirement plans, thus avoiding both estate and income tax on these assets at death.