Category Archives: Dynasty Trusts

Holistic Estate Planning and Leaving a Legacy of Your Family’s Values

Posted on by under Business Succession Planning, Business Transitions, Dynasty Trusts, Estate Planning, Family Business, Family Limited Partnerships, Gifts to Minors, Kansas, Missouri, Small Business, Trusts, Wills

Here’s an article on a relatively new concept called holistic estate planning that combines traditional estate and tax planning considerations with mediation, family conferences, and facilitating the sharing of values and communicating across generational boundaries. The estate planning attorneys in our office strongly recommend holistic estate planning and believe that it’s a great way to bring families closer, pass on a strong and positive legacy of values and family traditions to future generations, and ensure all family members can play a vital role in the family’s ongoing legacy, business or real estate interests, and impact on the local community.

A practical application of holistic estate planning is found in this article in this weekend’s LA Times. Two siblings – one conservative and one liberal – are using some of their inheritance to promote their political ideas in California. The brother and sister are the children of Charlie Munger, the Harvard trained lawyer and investment partner of Warren Buffett, the legendary investor behind Berkshire Hathaway. The article illustrates an overarching goal of estate planning: having sufficient financial and other freedom to pursue your passion.

If we can help you and your family with estate planning or serve you in the holistic estate planning process, give our firm, Johnson Law KC LLC, a call (913-707-9220) or email us (steve@johnsonlawkc.com) for a convenient appointment.

(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.

Interesting investing trend

Posted on by under BDITs, Business Succession Planning, Business Transitions, Dynasty Trusts, Estate Planning, Family Business, Generation Skipping Tax, Gift Tax, Illiquid Assets, Kansas, Missouri, Probate, Small Business, Trusts, Wills

According to this CNBC article, many very affluent investors are shifting their investment portfolios around as they search for (1) safety and (2) yield. Safety or asset preservation and yield or accumulation are two often conflicting goals for investors. The article does point out that following the investing habits of very affluent investors (those with over $30 million to invest) is not necessarily a good idea for ordinary investors. But as Robert Frank notes, wealthy investors “set the tone for the broader market,” so if they are dumping publicly traded U.S. stocks in favor of private companies, real estate, and commodities (as the study suggests many are), it may send signals rippling through the broader stock markets for some time.

For both asset protection (from creditors, taxes, divorcing spouses, and spendthrift children) and tax benefits, we’re recommending Inheritor’s Trusts or Beneficiary Defective Inheritor’s Trusts (BDITs) to many of our affluent clients, clients who anticipate  receiving an inheritance from their relatives of  over $400,000, and entrepreneurial clients who like to start, grow, and sell small businesses. An Inheritor’s Trust works well in any of these situations and is an exciting new tool to help facilitate your estate and financial planning needs. Call (913-707-9220) or email (steve@johnsonlawkc.com) our law firm, Johnson Law KC LLC, to learn more about how you can benefit from an Inheritor’s Trust and for a convenient and free half-hour consultation.

(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.

Heckerling Insights: Part 3

Posted on by under BDITs, Business Succession Planning, Business Transitions, Dynasty Trusts, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Business, Family Limited Partnerships, Generation Skipping Tax, Gift Tax, Income Tax, Kansas, Missouri, Probate, QPRTs, Small Business, Trust protector, Trusts, Wills

Here are some interesting insights from our colleagues at the Heckerling Institute from this year’s conference. Among other topics, beneficiary defective inheritor’s trusts (BDITs), generation skipping tax planning (GST), trust protectors, qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs), grantor trusts, and various probate planning issues are discussed. If we can help you and your family with any of these issues or address other estate planning or small business issues you have, please call (913-707-9220) or email us (steve@johnsonlawkc.com) for a convenient appointment.

Our firm, Johnson Law KC LLC, is developing a practice in Missouri inheritor’s trust and other beneficiary defective inheritor’s trusts (BDITs) and excited about sharing this new tool with clients to help meet their estate planning needs now and for generations to come.

(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.

Lump Sum Retirement Planning

Posted on by under Business Succession Planning, Business Transitions, Dynasty Trusts, Estate Planning, Family Business, Family Limited Partnerships, Kansas, Missouri, Probate, Small Business, Trusts, Wills

This video from Smart Money has useful strategies for lump sums from early retirement. If you’ve taken early retirement, you need to review and revise your estate planning documents as well. Call (913-707-9220) or email (steve@johnsonlawkc.com) us and we’d be happy to work with you on your early retirement needs.

(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.

Shhhh … You’ve Inherited Money

Posted on by under Business Succession Planning, Business Transitions, Dynasty Trusts, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Business, Generation Skipping Tax, Kansas, Missouri, Small Business, Trusts, Wills

Smart Money has this interesting video about how to interact with family and friends when you inherit money or have a large financial windfall. Our law firm has decades of experiencing advising wealthy individuals and families. Affluent people don’t always look the same either – some look like a socialite, while others may be a small business owner or farmer. If you have inherited money or had a windfall, be humble and quiet about it, and talk with your financial advisor and attorney ASAP. If we can help you deal with an inheritance and related estate planning needs, call (913-707-9220) or email us (steve@johnsonlawkc.com) for a convenient appointment.

(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.

Sibling vs. Sibling: The Inheritance Wars

Posted on by under Business Succession Planning, Business Transitions, Dynasty Trusts, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Business, Family Limited Partnerships, Kansas, Missouri, Probate, Small Business

Caren Chesler has this interesting article in the March/April edition of Private Wealth magazine. The article addresses the inheritance wars that often arise between siblings when another sibling gets a larger inheritance for their caregiving work for the deceased parent, or one sibling grew up more frugally than a younger sibling who was born after their parents made a fortune, and the business succession disputes that can break out and threaten companies, especially where one sibling is deeply involved with the company’s operation and another sibling is not in the family business.

All of these inheritance wars boil down to a lack of communication. Communication is critical in estate planning and business succession.  Your desires, wishes, and intent need to be clearly laid out for your children or grandchildren and business partners. And your documents need to be crystal clear to help avoid potentially divisive and costly disputes.

Estate planning and business succession planning can be an excruciating process where raw emotions and decades-old resentments and grudges are laid bare and flare up over the continuation of the family name/money. San Francisco attorney John O’Grady is quoted in the article as recommending a healthy alternative where:

“Everyone has a voice. Everyone knows what the plan is. And in the end, [the siblings] participated in that plan, whether or not mom and did did it their way.” Without good communication about estate planning and business succession, siblings may feel ignored, as if “their parents mentioned a plan but never showed it to them, and they have no idea what’s going to happen when their parents die.” The unhappy result of a lack of communication is that the estate planning process may “end in tears.”

Please give me a call (913-707-9220) or email me (steve@johnsonlawkc.com) if I can help you or your family with estate planning and business succession issues.

(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.

The Demographics of Wealth Concentration

Posted on by under Business Succession Planning, Business Transitions, Dynasty Trusts, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Business, Kansas, Missouri, Retirement, Small Business, Trusts, Wills

The Wall Street Journal has this story about the latest demographic study of wealth concentration. The WSJ notes that (1) the concentration of multi millionaires mainly tracks the population and (2) the number of high network individuals in a community and their relative concentration within that community may be very different. As always, if we can help with your estate planning or small business needs, call or email us for a convenient appointment.

(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.

Heckerling Insights on Family Businesses and Gift Planning

Posted on by under Business Succession Planning, Business Transitions, Dynasty Trusts, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Business, Family Limited Partnerships, Gift Tax, Gifts to Minors, Illiquid Assets, Kansas, LLCs, Missouri, Small Business

Here’s the first part of the Trusts and Estates annual roundup from the Heckerling Institute in Florida. The Heckerling Institute is America’s premier estate planning seminar for attorneys and other professionals. If we can help you with your family business, gift planning, or other estate planning, call or email us.

(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.

Bad Demographic News for Baby Boomers

Posted on by under Business Succession Planning, Business Transitions, Dynasty Trusts, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Business, Family Limited Partnerships, Generation Skipping Tax, Gift Tax, Gifts to Minors, Kansas, Missouri, Small Business, Trusts, Wills

If you’re a member of the Baby Boomer generation, you would be well advised to read this demographic study regarding investment returns and retirement planning. If we can help you optimize your estate plan for your retirement needs, please give us a call or send us an email, and we look forward to meeting with you.

(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.

Offshore estate planning

Posted on by under Business Succession Planning, Dynasty Trusts, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Business, Family Limited Partnerships, Generation Skipping Tax, Gift Tax, Gifts to Minors, Illiquid Assets, Income Tax, Kansas, Missouri, Small Business, Trusts

The Wall Street Journal has this interesting article on offshore estate planning tactics with reference to Mitt Romney’s IRA. If I can help you with offshore or domestic estate planning issues, please call me at your convenience.

(c) 2012, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.