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In moving past the “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations” adage, advisors in the family wealth space are emphasizing the importance of the family’s qualitative capitals that go beyond serving only the financial capital goals. This shift has elevated the family client experience and expectations. It’s part of the Wealth 3.0 movement that brings with it a refocus on the different goals of various family types, the importance of qualitative capitals, the evolution of family governance, and the human capital of legacy families and the rising generation.

Irrevocable trusts are a great way to minimize estate taxes and keep more of your wealth in the family, but they require you to permanently give up ownership and control of the assets you place in them. For people who are hesitant about the irrevocable aspect of the trust, there is the spousal lifetime access trusts, or SLAT, that can be an excellent estate-planning tool that allows indirect access to trust assets and income through the beneficiary spouse. Plus utilizing the SLAT’s grantor trust status, can make this type of trust especially palatable.

For a business owner considering the sale of their business, there are two competing goals: maximizing the proceeds from the sale and minimizing the transfer taxes that will be due on the owner’s enhanced estate. With additional insights, Warner Partner Beth O’Laughlin discusses possible ways to accomplish both of these goals through gift and estate tax strategies employed before the owner signs a letter of intent to sell the business.

With the rise of the Tax Strategist, a trend is taking shape past the normal tax planning: Tax leaders who use a strategic approach are becoming key contributors to driving positive business performance. To uncover what’s behind this trend, tax executives were surveyed about their involvement in overall decision-making, as well as their top priorities and challenges in the next 12 months.