Category: Estate Planning

Treating Your Children Equally Or Fairly!

Featured by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Business Growth and Transition, Company Wealth, Estate Planning, evaluations, Income from your business, Inside Sale, Passive Ownership

Leaving assets Equally or Fairly!

The One Page Issue

The Issue Overview:    

Parents want to leave different property to their two children. Son A is in the family business, while Son B is a teacher. They also want to update their estate plan.  

Break down and fact pattern:  Family owns a business worth approximately $3 million (ballpark guess by accountant, but not a certified appraisal).  The account has suggested that the owner get a certified appraisal.  There is a building worth $800,000 that houses the family business, and residential real estate worth about $1.5 million.  Their home is valued, $500,000, and an investment worth about $600,000.   Their net worth is approximately $6,400,000.[i]

Rents and salary are where the family derives their income.

The rental income profits are being invested back in the real estate to pay down the mortgages which will be paid off in five years.  

Intention of estate owners; Specifically, at the death of the surviving spouse, Son A is to receive the business and the business property.   Son B is to receive the real estate and residence. The investment account balance to be split equally.    

Past Planning:  The parents have done very little estate planning. They have an old, “I love you will” and do not have healthcare directives in place.  

One Page Issues:

Summary of Issues:  

A. Upon dad’s death- the status of mom and her income. 

B. The real estate other than the business building to Son B. 

C. Distribution of business assets to the son A

D. Estate settlement costs and taxes.

ONE PAGE SOLUTION!

One Page Solution (s), things we suggested to consider:

  • Certified evaluation of the business as a watermark of value, for a variety of things.
  • Update wills, possibly a living trust (Qtip/bypass) and Medical Directives
  • Placing real estate in Irrevocable defective grantor trust   with spouse as income beneficiary (Defective Grantor Trust) remove from estate and future value[ii].  
    • Parents are not concerned with making gifts. (See footnotes).
    • Parents are aware of a possible reduction in the exemption credit.
    • There is also the issue of the loss of stepped-up cost basis in the future because of future tax law changes. 
  • At spouse death, Son B can receive the investment property. Son B will receive the commercial building and the business.  
  • If more cash is needed in the estate, the business could fund a life insurance policy on Mom and dad (2nd to die) to absorb taxes and transfer costs.  Using the company to fund the policy via a split dollar or bonus plan. If so, the life insurance would be purchased by an irrevocable trust.  

Overview

These were a a few of the strategies the family could do to improve their situation, although there are many more ways to plan their estate.  Most important, this was the direction the family felt more comfortable after reviewing other possibilities.  Compared to the default estate plan they had; this planning puts them in a much better position to accomplish their goals. 

Bottom Line:  

  • The spouse will have the income needed to stay in her world. 
  • Son A received the company along with the building. 
  • Son B is treated fairly in that he receives the real estate and income from the real estate.
  • It also works well if the mother passed first.  The only exception would depend on the value of the stock which the father owned at his death.  Currently, he owns 100% of the stock.  (Once the business value is known other planning strategies could be implemented to save taxes and accomplish their financial goals as a family.  Things such as using minority stock discounts, recapitalization, estate tax funding with life insurance, gift programs, along with other techniques to accomplish the personal family goals).

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[i] Business needs certified appraisal- current value is an estimate

[ii] We are considering current tax laws; however, we are on the verge of a possible lowering of the exemption credit and repeal of the stepped-up basis

Case Examples of When To Use Life Insurance and The Type To Use!

Featured by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Estate Planning, Executive Benefits, Funding your Buy and Sell, Life Insurance Types, Tax Efficient, Tax Free Income

Part 1

Part One- Two cases using life insurance.   

Over the years I have seen clients and advisors get hung up on which type of life insurance they should purchase, permanent or term insurance, making their situation much more complicated than it must be.   

In this article I want to break down the different situations where life insurance is needed and what type of life insurance I would    recommend.  Again, this is my opinion, but it is based on several facts within the situation.   

Example 1 – Young Business Owner with A Growing Business 

Our client is running a business and is investing much of his discretionary dollars into the business. His wife is a nurse and makes  good income. This helps him support the family while building his business.  

He has two young children, a mortgage, and a business loan. They are not concerned about income replacement at his death, as his wife can work anytime and anyplace as a nurse. However, they are concerned about debt, business debt and the college costs for the kids. The capital required was $1,000,000 

His earnings have been increasing consistently for the past five years, and his business has been stabilizing while growing. The income from the business is more predictable and, in a few years, he feels it will be easier to budget.  

In this case I suggested he purchase a 20-year term convertible term insurance plan.  

  •  The premiums are affordable and low  
  •  the term of the insurance would be adequate 

I could have suggested permanent life insurance under a split dollar or bonus plan however, I felt it would impede his ability to save money in his business and continue to expand. 

Case 2-The Sole Proprietor with No Market 

The problem with owning a sole proprietorship, is in many cases there is no market to sell the business. These small companies create a job for the owner, a salary, and a place to go. It affords them a good standard of living, and enjoyment in their work. The problem, however, is at their death, a long-term illness, or a cash flow crunch, or loss of key employees, they do not have a market to sell too immediately.   

One of the greatest risks is dying while owning the company.  The business is too small for the open market, and normally there are a handful of employees who do not have an interest in or the money to purchase the business.  

This is a time that the estate in many cases needs the cash to settle estate expenses.   

Competitors are more than happy to lend a helping hand by offering 10-20 cents on the dollar for the assets.   

As a planner, I can help them!  

I can arrange to have a buyer ready at any time to provide the spouse or estate of the owner, the going concern value of the business.  

  The payout would be tax free. The cost could be from 1/2% to 2% of the value put on the business.   

If the cost were 1% for example, and the business was worth $250,000, the owner would pay $2,500 a year for this guarantee.  

If the owner decided to sell the business to a willing buyer, the owner would receive back part or all their cost for the arranged guaranteed purchase.   

The “Arrangement” at death is that the spouse/estate would receive tax-free the $250,000 purchase value!    The spouse/estate could also keep the business, and sell the assets or the business (piecemeal, or the whole business). 

If the owner of the business had retired and sold the business to an outsider or another family member, the arrangement would return to the owner all the deposits the business owner contributed to the “Arrangement” over the years, plus a reasonable interest rate to help them in retirement.  

Not a bad plan when you consider the “Arrangement” is guaranteed if the business owner paid their 1% to the arrangement.  

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10 Questions Every Business Owner Should Know Know!

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Buy and Sell Agreements, Company Wealth, Estate Planning, Executive Benefits, Key People_Or Group, Life Insurance Types, Passive Ownership, Selling Your Business

  1. What strategies are you using to make sure you will grow your business to the maximum value it can grow to.  
  1. What are you doing to make sure you have a key group, culture, and a method to keep them with you for the future?  
  1. What makes you think you are taking advantage of all the benefits available to use in your company that would help, you, your company, and your family on a tax-effective basis.  
  1. How will you extract the greatest potential value of your business upon your death, disability, or retirement (the three major reasons you will have to leave your business)?  
  1. What ideas and strategies have your accountants and attorneys given you in the last three years that has made a significant difference in your growth of the business? 
  1. If you died tonight, who would own your business? And are you sure that is true? 
  1. Make makes you sure that your key people will not leave you? And if they do, what makes you think that they will not go to your competitor, start their own business, and/or reveal your business secrets the competition. 
  1. What makes you believe your key people would not steal your employees, and clients, if they decided to set up shop across the street from you? 
  1. When was the last time “all your advisors” sat in the same room for the morning and talked about your goals, and what is the best advice they could give you to create more growth and better business? 
  1. How would your spouse know what all the passwords needed to open your computer accounts, would she know where the key to the front door of your office is, if you died last night?  

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Common techniques and situations where life insurance is required!

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Company Wealth, Estate Planning, Strategies of growing business, Tax Efficient, Tax Free Income, Value drivers

When you apply for life insurance with a trust, how is it set up? What are some of the ramifications? 

Basically, a life insurance policy is purchased by the trust and is owned by the trust.  The Grantor pays the premium in the form of gifts to the trust.  By doing so, the life insurance is not part of the estate, the benefits are tax-free, and if done correctly, premiums are considered present interest gifts in most cases.  The combination of the trust (Irrevocable Insurance Trust), and the Life Insurance maximizes and leverages the amount of property which can pass to the estate!   

  • The Trust needs a Tax ID (EIN) from the IRS since this is a tax paying entity 
  • A non-interest-bearing checking account in the name of the trust is needed to deposit cash into to cover the premium payment.  
  • The Grantor makes gifts to beneficiaries of the trusts. Gifts are deposited into the checking account. Gifts are normally within the annual exemption limit. 

Life Insurance and Business Succession Planning.  

  • Equalization when leaving a business to family members when some of the members will receive the business while others will not.  Life Insurance can be the equalizer for the other children not receiving business interests.  
  • For businesses that are heavy in real estate, the life insurance can guarantee liquidity to cover maintenance expenses and lost cash flow. 
  • Life Insurance is a component of most buy and sell agreements to ensure the surviving partner has liquidity to buy out the interest of the deceased family member. 

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Types of Insurance:  Whole life, 2nd to die. What are the benefits of each?  

  • Second-to-die/survivorship life insurance can be in the form of a whole life or Universal life insurance policy.   It covers two lives and is paid at the survivor’s death.  It is normally when the capital requirements are needed at the death of the survivor.  Based on the mortality of two lives, it provides a discount for the insurance.  However, after the 1st insured dies, the premiums are normally needed, so a consideration would be the cash flow after a death of either one of the insureds.  However, if the capital requirement will be at the 2nd death, this type of policy is less expensive than buying two policies.   
  • Whole Life Insurance and Universal life are designed to stay in force for the insured’s lifetime. Whole life has guarantees, while Univeral life is albeit more flexible. It has the potential to cost more to keep in force for the whole of life.  However, universal life does offer guaranteed death benefit plans. Whole life and Universal Life can be used when the capital is needed for the lifetime of the insured.  
  • Term insurance is designed to last for a specific period before it expires.  Although term insurance is the least expensive initially, with outlay, it can become the most expensive over time.   However, it is a great plan to own when you have defined the capital exposure needed for a specific period and no longer. An example would be a bank loan for a brief period, a potential exposure or need not lasting for more than 20 years.   

Is life insurance death benefit tax free?   Most of the time if arranged correctly.  However, there are a few exceptions when life insurance is not tax–free.   

  • Paid directly to the designated beneficiary (trust or individual) it will be paid tax free.   
  • The unholy triangle:  owner –dad; Dad gifts the policy ownership to daughter.  Daughter names her daughter as beneficiary.  At dad’s death there is a gift from Daughter (owner) to her daughter as the named beneficiary.  
  • Transfer for value:  This is when a policy is sold to another person as owner and paid to a non-exempt class, the policy will be taxable on the proceeds in excess of what the policy was sold for.  
  • Owner A, sells, his policy to his brother-in-law. At A’s death, the proceeds will be taxable in excess of what the brother-in-law paid towards the policy.  
  • However, if the brother-in-law was a Corportation (office of), a partner, a partnership, there would be no income taxes.  
  • Or anyone whose basis is determined by reference to the original transferor’s basis.  
  • The insured (or insured’s spouse or ex-spouse if incident to a divorce under Sec 1041) 

Avoiding the three-year look-back period when existing insurance is transferred to a trust.  

  • If the policy is already owned the insured can gift the policy to the trust, making a lifetime gift to the trust, the trust can then buy the policy for the interpolated reserve value of the policy  
  • Set up the trust before the purchase of the life insurance. Have the trust buy the policy, the trust would be the original owner and beneficiary.  

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What changes can be made to an irrevocable trust when the estate planning has changed?  

  • Decanting the trust varies from state to state. Decanting techniques can pass the assets into a new trust and take advantage of enhancements that may have appeared in the trust code since the original trust was created.  
  • Establishing a new trust for the life insurance:  The funding must be valued at the value of the old trust (namely the interpolated reserve value). It requires an exchange of assets. The trustees would also sign a contract of sale when the life insurance is transferred.  Certain procedures need to be in order.  

These are a few of the areas professional planners should be aware of when working on the estate of their clients.  These are some of the more complicated planning techniques, which come up often and are critical to making sure advisors are aware of the potential tax traps.   

I have found it best to work with the “team” of the client’s advisors so there is less of a chance to make mistakes when planning the estate of the business owner.   

To receive our FREE Estate Planning Guide for Business owners, BUSINESS OWNERS ESSENTIAL R-6:  CLICK HERE FOR THE DOWNLOAD. ON the drop-down menu pick R-6 Business Owners Essentials.