Family Business Planning in High Gear
The combination of continued low interest rates, a struggling economy and uncertainty about taxes makes planning important right now. IRS interest rates used in valuing various kinds of gifting...
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What Philadelphia Has Plenty Of by Robert H. Louis It’s family businesses. Actually, it’s a worldwide phenomenon. Throughout the world, family ownership is the predominant form of business...
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“PEOPLE ARE FUNNY” By Robert H. Louis Was a classic TV show in which people did humiliating things for money. Sound familiar? Sometimes, you can suggest to a client a very sensible course of...
View ArticleCongress is about to do something, eventually
A bill has passed the U.S. House making changes in grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs). The bill would require that GRATs have a term of at least ten years, and would eliminate the zeroed out GRAT....
View ArticleWorking in a Family Business
A business school professor told the son of a client: “there’s nothing like working in a family business.” That’s true in several ways. Working in a family business can give someone a clear, eventual...
View ArticleThe History of a Family Business
This fact pattern , which I wrote for a seminar, sets forth the many challenges and opportunities presented by family businesses: The History of a Family Business In 1965, Jeffrey Spalding decided he...
View ArticleNew Tax Law Aids Business Succession Planning
The passage of last year’s Tax Relief Act (it has a longer name that no one can remember and no helpful acronym) included changes in the law that have made transfers of business interests more tax...
View ArticlePromoting Business Succession With Retirement Plans
My client Jim struggled for years over the decision when to give up his ownership of and active involvement in the family business. He had transferred some of the company stock to the one son who...
View ArticleFurther update on business succession planning
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal highlights the importance of the revised estate and gift tax law for owners of family businesses. The article appeared in the February 19, 2011 edition, and...
View ArticleFamily Business: The Third Generation Problem
An interesting article in Private Wealth magazine- “Why Wealth Disappears”- examines the seemingly iron law that wealth created in the first generation disappears in the third one. The author uses...
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