If you and your spouse complement each other, work well together, and support each other, does it makes sense to go into business together? Can you effectively be partners in marriage, partners in parenting, and partners in business? Although it may not be easy, many couples have proven that the answer is yes—a business partnership with your spouse can be very rewarding.

As rewarding as it can be, there are a few steps that must be taken in order to protect your partnership—inside and outside the office:

• Have a detailed plan that you both agree on
• Be specific about each of your job descriptions to avoid stepping on each other’s toes
• Agree on the amount of risk you are both willing to take
• Know each of your strengths and weaknesses
• Have a safety net
• Be sure you are both contributing to your own retirement plans
• Don’t skimp on the paperwork; have an attorney draft the documents you need to protect your business and your personal assets
• Plan personal time together when work is “off-limits”. Vacations, regular date nights, a business cut-off time—all of these can be helpful in setting boundaries and preserving the romance
• Hope for the best, but plan for the worst: have your attorney help you draft a buy-sell agreement in the event that one (or both) of you someday wants to gracefully step down

Being in business with your spouse can be paradise or perdition, and at times it will probably be a little of both. Each family—and each family business—will be different, and our office can help you navigate the tough legal terrain to find the best fit. Being prepared and taking the right legal steps will bring paradise a little closer by allowing you to relax and enjoy what you and your spouse have built together. Whatever your arrangement, don’t neglect the future. In business, having a good plan is the best protection there is.

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We publish a lot on this blog about preparing your estate plan: writing a will, setting up a trust, choosing beneficiaries and nominating guardians; but there is another side to estate planning, a fun side… the receiving end.

You may assume that the receiving end of estate planning is the fun and easy part, but that is not always the case. Coming into an inheritance presents its own questions and challenges; financial, logistical, and personal.

Financial

Receiving an inheritance always means you have to think about taxes. Estate taxes, income taxes, property taxes… The estate tax this year is not as clear as it has been in the past, and you will probably want to have an attorney or accountant help you with it. Whether or not you have help, you will absolutely want to keep paperwork on everything. This includes paperwork from any transfers of inherited property made by you, as well as any and all of the original paperwork you can find for the inherited assets.

Logistical

There is a lot more to an inheritance than simply getting money and spending it. Are you the nominated guardian of young children, holding those assets in trust for their benefit? Or perhaps you are the beneficiary of a trust, and your receipt of the assets is subject to the terms of that trust. Do you have to use the money for school? Do you need to approval of a trustee before you can spend it? Hopefully you are working with a trustee you know and trust, but if you and the trustee disagree you may need mediation or even your own attorney.

Personal

Inherited property is almost always very personal and fraught with emotion. Should you really sell the house grandma lived in for decades and use the money to take a cruise? (If so, wait until after taxes to buy the tickets.) Would your parents have wanted you to use the money to pay for a wedding, or save it for your retirement? Do you want to take the summer home that’s been in your family for generations and own it jointly with your new spouse, or keep the property on your side of the family?

Whatever you choose to do with your inheritance, it’s likely you’ll need some guidance from a knowledgeable and trustworthy professional. Your estate planning attorney can help. Our knowledge of the probate system, estate taxes, and creating vehicles to protect your assets can answer your questions regarding the receiving end of estate planning as well as the planning.

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Jane Austen once wrote “There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better.” Such an (eventually) optimistic philosophy is good to have in the economic times in which we find ourselves now, when the unemployment rate is a staggering 8.5%. With more than 5 million jobs lost since the recession began, people are finding that there is indeed a need for resiliency and creativity, and those who are able to “turn to another” scheme of happiness will fare better than those who steadfastly hold out hope for the old ways.

According to this article in USA Today, more and more people are getting creative in their schemes for happiness, and many are doing so by starting small businesses after they are laid off from large companies. In fact, a small business is not at all a bad place to be right now, considering President Obama’s recent announcement regarding ”a small-business financing plan that includes reduced loan fees and incentives for banks to do more lending.”

If you are one of these brave people who have chosen to combat economic conditions by creating your own small business, remember that going from being an employee to being “The Owner” brings with it many changes, not the least of which are changes in your estate plan. Small business owners tend to be less liquid than traditional employees, putting much of their earnings back into the business for growth, which means estate planning for business owners requires a different strategy than for other families.

Whatever your scheme or situation, our firm can help you create the right plan to protect your assets and your family.

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The Wall Street Journal says that family limited partnerships are finding renewed favor as an estate planning tool, thanks to recent tax-court decisions.

In an article entitled “Covering Your Assets” Journal writer Mark Klimek asserts that despite some IRS opposition, tax court rulings in recent years have endorsed the use of FLPs when they are used to preserve a family business for future generations.

“Setting up such a partnership could be especially useful right now for families with businesses,” according to the article. “The Obama budget calls for the estate tax to be restored next year at a rate of 45 percent for estates worth more than $3.5 million, or $7 million for couples. Income-tax increases for high earners are on the agenda as well.”

The article goes on to describe many of the dos and don’ts of FLPs, but of course each family’s situation is special, and you should consult an estate planning attorney before making decisions about any specific strategy.

In any case, the time to act is now. According to one expert quoted in the Journal article, “There’s a realization that any kind of estate planning you can do this year is good, because 2009 will probably end up being the most favorable year for taxes ever.”

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As an estate planning firm it is our job to keep our clients prepared for what’s coming. This means helping prepare them not only for the eventuality of death, but also for what is coming in life; retirement, the possibility of divorce, new children or grandchildren, and even taxes. Taxes especially are of great concern these days because of the new President and his administration, and although we don’t yet know exactly what the new administration will do on the tax front, this article from CNN’s Money.com gives us an idea of where they may be headed.

As for the others, there are many ways we can help prepare you—and your heirs—for any eventuality; whether it be to protect your (and their) assets from predators during your lives or to provide for your loved ones after your death. Please call our office to find out how we can help your family be prepared.

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We live in anxious economic times, but it’s not all bad. If you’re a small business owner, or if you’ve been thinking about starting a small business, you may be in exactly the right place. According to Stephanie Chen of CNN.com, this may be the perfect time to take the leap you’ve been thinking about for years and start doing what you love.

In a time when big businesses are dumping cargo like crazy just to stay afloat, the small, independently owned businesses—which are less top-heavy and have fewer overhead expenses—are perfectly positioned to make it to the finish line.

If you are planning to jump in and start your own business, desire and a dream will only get you so far. You also have to have a plan. Steve Leer states in his article that your entrepreneurial success depends on how much forethought you’ve put into your business. Unfortunately, this is where new entrepreneurs can tend to get stuck. Our firm can help you get past the daunting early stages of writing a business plan, filing paperwork, and creating entities; leaving you to enjoy the active part of your business—working with clients or customers, hands-on creation, artistry, or production.

Our firm finds inspiration by helping our clients achieve their goals. Let us help you do what you find inspiring as well.

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Big corporations may be laying off employees in distressingly record numbers, but big corporations are not the only employers in the U.S.—as long as we have our small business community, all may not be lost. According to this article on Reader’s Digest.com, small businesses are taking the economic downturn in stride, and in some cases even doing well, “small businesses account for more than 60% of jobs in the U.S., and many of them are holding on to their staff or growing.”

But not all small businesses are created equal, and we aren’t the only ones who think so. A new study by the Wall Street Journal itself found that “entrepreneurs who engage in business planning early on are more likely to… get a business off the ground.” The article focuses mainly on a business plan, which is indeed one of the most important start-up documents you can have, but advance business planning can include these other documents as well, many of which require experienced legal advice:

• Operating agreement

• Legal partnership agreement

• Articles of Incorporation

• Bylaws

• Operations Manual

If current economic circumstances have you thinking about starting your own business, come into our office and let us help with the advance planning. We care about our clients, and are invested in seeing you accomplish your goals. We want to help give you and your business the best possible chance for success.

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“In the world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.” –Ben Franklin

It’s that time of year again. With only two days left of 2008 it’s time to turn our thoughts to doing our taxes once more; and unless you’re an accountant, there’s probably a certain amount of grumbling and procrastination involved in this activity. But with a little bit of organization, preparing your taxes doesn’t have to be a painful or grueling activity. Wells Fargo has a wonderful, comprehensive online Tax Preparation Checklist that will help immensely before you sit down with Turbo Tax or meet with your accountant.

One of the things on this list is your 1098 form, which lists your mortgage interest paid. As long as you’re thinking about your mortgage, this is a good time to confirm that your home is held in the name of your trust (if you have one). Even if you are certain you transferred your home into the name of your trust when you first bought it (or when you first created the trust) it is not unusual for a refinancing to change that, and is worth a quick confirmation.

As an estate planning firm, we would also like to remind you that April 15 is not just a deadline for your own personal taxes. If you’ve had a death in the family in the past year, various tax returns may also need to be filed for the decedent. If you are or were the executor of an estate in 2008 and have questions about filing tax returns, we can help you. Please don’t hesitate to call our office and let us take some of the fear out of the April 15 deadline.

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It used to be that people stayed at one company—one job—for their whole lives. Employers were benevolent, and almost part of the family; took care of families, once upon a time, offering health care coverage, life insurance, retirement packages… all this and an annual company picnic to boot!

As we all know, the world is a different place now. Very few people stay at one company longer than a decade, and not even that long if you’re under the age of 30. There is, however, one exception to this… if you’re self-employed.

As an estate planning firm, we meet with a good number of self-employed clients and small-business owners, and one of the most important things we can convey to these clients is how very, very important it is to have an effective estate plan. As S. du Plessis states in her article Estate Planning for the Self Employed: A Helpful Guide, “I am so responsible in other areas of my life, I feel compelled to be responsible about my death too. Plus, I hate to fail, and those who fail to plan. . . fail. So in fairness to my husband and children and because I own a business (which complicates my estate), it’s time to come up with an estate plan.”

Du Plessis is absolutely correct that failure to plan—especially for small business owners—can have disastrous consequences for both their families and their businesses. When you are so responsible in all other areas of your life, why let the ball drop in this one area? Especially when it’s your family who will end up suffering?

Small business owners spend so much of their time taking care of other people, we think it’s time that someone helped take care of them. Our office can help preserve the legacy you’ve worked so hard to build—for both your family and your business.

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Small business owners tend to be a smart, dynamic, and an especially opinionated lot. After years of running the show, you’ve gotten into the habit of doing things your way. And when the time comes to sell your business you want to do that your way as well. But is that even possible?

The answer to that is yes and no. It is the very act of doing things your way that has made your business as unique and successful as it is; you don’t want to change that now. Not to mention, you want to make sure that your interests are met when a deal is finally brokered. That being said, there are some things you can do—and people you can talk to—that will make the process of selling your business a lot quicker, a lot smoother, and a lot more lucrative.

This article from US News and World Report shares 10 Key Moves When Selling Your Business. Two of the ten moves mention getting the help of your accountant and the help of a professional broker. To this we would add getting the help of your attorney. Numbers 5 and 9 are going to be essential when it comes down to solidifying any deal, and our firm can help ensure that all of your legal and regulatory affairs are in order.

But what about the down market? Perhaps you’d like to sell but think it just isn’t an option while this financial fiasco is still going on. Not so. According to Loraine MacDonald in her article for Entrepreneur.com an economic downturn may in fact be a lucrative time to sell if, as she puts it, you have the right “three stars aligned” at the same time.

Whether you’re thinking about selling right now or much later, it’s never a bad idea to do the research and put your business affairs in order. As MacDonald mentions in her article, there are any number of unforeseen events that could end in the sale of your business at an unexpected time. The more prepared you are the best chance you have of getting the best buyer for your business at the best price—and of course, doing it your way.

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