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Senior leaders increasingly take opportunities to sit on boards or serve as executives of outside entities. But while serving in that capacity, is an individual director or officer covered under his/her organization’s directors and officers (D&O) liability insurance policy? Although such opportunities may benefit all companies involved, it also raises significant liability issues. As a result, it is critical to understand how D&O insurance protects executives that serve on other companies’ boards.

The Board of Directors plays a pivotal role in the effective governance of any organization, including the private family trust company. Board members fulfill their roles and responsibilities, in part, by holding regular meetings that utilize a comprehensive agenda. One vital tool for an effective Board meeting is the meeting agenda. Here, ten suggestions are provided for developing and utilizing meeting agendas that will lead to more productive, efficient, and educational board meetings.

When the only tie that binds a family together is sharing business ownership, chances are the Family Enterprise will struggle to remain family-owned and intact for successive generations. However, when the family and the Family Enterprise are mutually supportive, the opportunity for sustainability is greatly enhanced. By taking a family-centric approach and applying a “Family Accord” framework—one that is based on structure, communication, and consensus—families can enjoy far greater odds of long-term success with their Family Enterprise.

Lawsuit awards can be incredibly high, and individuals known to have substantial assets are particularly vulnerable. In some cases, the high-stake lawsuits can cause devastating reputational damage. Given the risks and exposure, the need for holistic liability protection is an important issue. Learn the different types of liability insurance available and how to address some of the most common sources of risk, including board membership and social media and online activity.

Under their tag as Baby Boomers, the Pre-Retirees have always been different. In the insurance sphere, that difference shows itself as a change in perspective that entails new requirements. Whether to downsize and how, what legacy to leave, and similar questions that call for more than advantageous sales. To provide the added-value advice and service they need, financial advisors must look at their Pre-Retiree clients’ lives holistically in collaboration with risk and insurance advisors.

Although public companies are most often the targets of shareholder claims and class-action suits, not-for-profit and private entities are not immune from litigation. As a director, you could be named personally in claims of fraud or financial mismanagement from which the entity’s indemnification provisions and business structure cannot always protect you. It is important to understand the risk of lawsuits—whether brought by shareholder, employee, governmental body, competitor, customer, or other third parties—and how you can be protected.

Recently the IRS released proposed regulations under Chapter 14 of the Internal Revenue Code that would severely limit—if not eliminate—the application of valuation discounts, including lack of marketability and minority discounts, to interests in closely held family entities for gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer tax purposes. If finalized in their current form, the proposed regulations will have a significant impact on future estate planning for high net worth individuals and, potentially, on estate plans which were recently put into place.

The long-awaited and much-speculated about regulations to Section 2704 were issued in early August 2016. As issued, the proposed regulations expand the scope and reach of section 2704 to preclude use of various structural techniques to artificially suppress the value of interests in entities transferred by taxpayers or owned by them at death. The IRS is likely to receive a great deal of commentary from the estate planning and valuation communities, respectively. Therefore, the final form of these regulations is difficult to predict at best.

For years, owners of family-controlled companies have taken advantage of applicable valuation discounts to advance their objectives in transferring wealth and company ownership to future generations in a tax efficient manner. On August 2, the Treasury Department issued proposed regulations under Internal Revenue Code Section 2704 to curb the use of valuation discounts in such circumstances. A public hearing on the proposed regulations has been scheduled for December 1, 2016.

Avoiding the issue of succession planning is much easier than starting a conversation about handing over the reins to other family members. But avoidance does not defer the inevitable, and it puts family harmony and wealth at risk. As patriarchs and matriarchs of wealth families confront the issue of succession planning, there are seven questions families must address if they want to avoid a failed wealth transfer.