Well, put that in the Bank...at least the Memory Bank of note......
today, while deciding on financial insights to place on our domain web site: the wealth [pun intended] of articles found in The Wall Street Journal's 'Wealth Manager--the Journal Report; sec B 1-6' hit the spot!
The title of this post is a quote from Jay Adkisson, co-founder of Newport Beach, CA-based law firm of
Riser Adkisson LLP where he states; " it's the old saying that pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.....If you're not greedy, your discount will probably hold up."
He was speaking of Family limited partnerships getting renewed attention for those who have used this strategy for sheltering assets and for reducing gift / estate taxes.
While we do NOT have that problem here in this home as it applies to multi-dollar accounts, this is an avenue that families have used to protect assets of a family-owned business. Where the IRS has found issue with same is when the 'partners' use the LLP to tap into the funds for personal use or to shield personal property. This is a valuable article in that it:
....defines what the Partnership is...
....presents the Uses, Abuses and Mistakes
....explains why one should Keep Personal Assets Out
....have a legitimate nontax reason for forming
....why not to Overstuff [ assets into the Partnership]
....use of a qualified, trustworthy Professional Appraiser
Mr Adkisson states ".... recent court cases [IRS] suggest that discounts of 20% - 30% will pass muster.
Thus the quote and the warning of don't get greedy.
This advice is something that we have thought on, spoken about & legally planned for in our Will.
Since we do live in a litigious society, we were concerned about what would happen to our assets if some day, some one decided to sue us for services not rendered, mis-renedered, misrepresented, under represented, or whatever negatives abound in the Courts these days.
Our first pledge to ourselves and any client is to do all in a Legal and Ethical way. but can one prepare for every contingency? No!
At this posting, we have not established an LLP. Not looking to do so tomorrow, but our Will does have items clearly specified. It is easy for us in that there is only one heir in our small family; but we have made bequeaths to others, set up an Executor & given that person the right to make Medical decisions if and when. Scary!
Now, we want to change a % amount to our Heir so that we can leave a dollar amount to our County Police Dog & Horse groups. This is a special group & many of the handlers help finance their '4 footed partners'. We have all 9 of our 4 footed pals up with God now, so we can leave this as a memorial to them.
The 'scary' item mentioned above came about when a 2nd Lawyer had to draw the actual will up as we left a % to the family lawyer & appointed him as 'Person in charge.'; this 2nd lawyer, who happens to be a long friend of our lawyer joked as follows:"I can hear you saying ' Oh,______, it's only a broken arm, I don't need to go into a Nursing Home at this time...."
Well, it came across as funny when he was saying it. You really need to know all the characters involved.
For those of you with younger children or more than one heir, this is a very serious item for you too.
The most important item is: be certain that you have that Will drawn, notarized, filed & a copy placed with your papers where others can locate it easily.
A personal item from my experience---I am 1 of 5 sibs; my parents died 2 months apart; my Dad had tried to tell me where the Will was, but I didn't want to hear about that in my 30's. I was certain that it was
safe and secure.... what happened 20 years later was:
...no Will found that was Signed by Lawyer-- only a carbon copy
....though I was named after my Mom as executor, I needed a Lawyer [thus the one who now has
Medical Rights over Me-- Sal too] had to petition the Court. A complicated and long process that
would not have been necessary "IF ONLY" I had acted in a more grown up manner when it was
addresses. Our family knew that Dad was good at saving, but not at remembering WHERE.
....Law office was dismantled [ do they do that? either way , no law office at their death time]
....lawyer was deceased and no ability to find out who had the Lawyer's paperwork at the time.
Today with all the e-technology, this somehow should be easier to draw secure, and retrieve, right?
While i am into this section of the Journal, it also has some great articles on:
.....Estate planning:
a. The Mess They Left by Suzanne Barlyn--no estate planning, no records, no Will
b. The Right Steps by Michaela Cavallaro----Blended Families--yours, mine, & ours
.......Financial Advisors:
a. Seven Questions to Ask When Picking a Financial Advisor by Shelly Banjo---tips on How to Pick
b. Financial Prescription by Shelly Banjo & Kristen McNamara---follow health-care checklist for those
people with chronic issness
........Setting up Trusts---grantor-retained annuity trusts.
a. A Time for Giving by Nate Hardcastle---for those in the position monitarily to do this.
If your head is buzzing and wondering why I am writing a serious Post, when normally some call mine
" Fluff, Confusing, No Point To" ; then all I can say is:
a person can be a deep thinker
who normally likes to read and learn from those longer in the Rain
But
who, every now and then, just finds an item so compelling
that calls for comments.
Besides--don't want to wear our my status as " fluff" never was called that growing up
was always told that " your are too serious. loosen up..."
while it is fun to loosen up -- as a writing style ---not life style
serious is my middle name & you can take that to the Bank.
May your City, County, State see the loosening-up in the Housing Market, soon
may we here in Michigan also see our prices leveling off. [ preferably UPward]
Until we meet in the Rain again
Live, Love and always Laugh,
Barb & Sal
Don't mind if my life seems to be a Rubrics Cube at times.
as long as Sal & I get to Align the sides.
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