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Don’t miss this perennial Family Office Forum classic. It doesn’t take a crystal ball to know 2020 will usher in tax and estate planning change. The pandemic has disrupted the economy and interest rates, offering new opportunities for wealth transfer planning. Learn what you can do now and should do by the end of the year.Mark Harder, Partner, Warn...

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), a federal law effective in January, will require new reporting tasks for many family offices and other entities, including limited liability companies (LLCs), limited partnerships (LPs) and S and C corporations. In this update, a useful checklist and answers to the frequently asked questions about the CTA ...

Over the past 15 years, the IRS has attempted to ramp up its scrutiny of wealthy individuals. With billions in new funding promised under the Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS has announced additional tax enforcement efforts focused on the wealthiest filers, including high-income individuals, partnerships, and large corporations. Attorney Erin Lasen...

The White House released a retooled framework for the Build Back Better Act on October 28, 2021. Notable aspects of the Biden framework that will affect estate planning include estate and gift tax exemptions, grantor trusts, valuation rules, and the new surtax on high earners and non-grantor trusts—which could bring the total surtax to 8%). I...

Most business owners know that proper succession planning can help keep their business running strong into the next generation. They understand the importance of creating a plan to prepare heirs and key employees to run the business when it is time. In taking a different approach and applying the lessons learned, a list of seven “worst p...

Currently, family offices are typically exempted from the requirement to register with the SEC as investment advisers. But this may change after the United States House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services gave support to the HR 4620 bill that may be a harbinger of efforts to impose additional oversight of family offices in the f...

Many successful families have put their shared values and goals in writing, often called a family constitution. A constitution can help build family unity and harmony, and the creation process itself provides benefits to the family. Learn the value that families can derive from creating a constitution, the work involved in creating one, and the top...

Trusts are valuable tools frequently used to transfer wealth within families, preserve and protect wealth, and reduce taxes. Understanding trusts and the role of the trustee is important for the people establishing trusts and the beneficiaries of those trusts. Building on this foundation, answers are provided to some questions about trusts and trus...

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 gi...

Once you have decided to pass the family vacation property to the next generation, and you have chosen the ownership form you want to use, the last step in preparing for the transfer is to create an agreement that spells out the use and maintenance of the property and governs a family member’s exit from ownership (if that becomes necessary). Learn ...

Once a family has made a decision to pass the ownership of family cottage or vacation property to the next generation, you will need to give thought to how that ownership will be held. There are basically three options for the form of ownership and use of a cottage by multiple households of a family: co-tenancy, a trust, or a limited liability comp...

When families gather at their cottages or vacation properties, the senior generation might think how nice it would be for these multi-generational gatherings to continue after they pass. But before designing an estate plan to address the future generations’ continued use and enjoyment of this property, there are two important questio...