Wills, Trusts & Estates Articles by Insights

To the owners of family businesses, estate planning can sometimes be an after-thought. Owners are often so involved in building their business and managing its daily operations that they do not have time to devote to the planning that will become important when the owner is ready to hand over management control and ownership to successors. It is often the case with successful family businesses that there has been little or no thought given to the transition of management and ownership, with the result being there is no succession plan in place. Further, available strategies to transfer the ownership of the business to younger generations of the family in a tax-effective manner may not have been utilized.

When a family business is one of the assets, or perhaps the primary asset, a well thought out strategic and financial plan for the business and an estate plan for the family are critically important. The following is a brief and by no means exhaustive outline of some points to consider.

Strategic Planning