Time ticks on for all of us. For those with significant Miami business assets, the ticking can take on an ominous tone if they have been lax in creating an estate plan. Without such a plan, the business they have worked so hard in life to build and nurture might wither and collapse after the owner’s death.
Too dramatic? Perhaps. The problem with owning a business without a will is that you simply cannot know what will happen to your company once you are gone. Will your wife get it? Children? Business partners? The taxman? Forbes says that the problem might be bigger than you imagine: nearly 30 percent of surveyed business owners are without an estate plan.
Consider that not all estate plans for business owners are elaborate, sophisticated documents. Some owners of small businesses do just fine by having nothing more than a will, life insurance and a credit shelter. However, many need more targeted tools to protect heirs and assets from taxes and other wealth-draining forces.
Why don’t the business owners sit down with an experienced estate-planning attorney? The Forbes article cited several reasons, including a pretty normal reluctance among business owners to ponder and discuss their own deaths, as well a desire to avoid making some potentially difficult personal and business decisions about the disposition of their assets.
Others have estate plans, but the documents have been sitting around unchanged for a number of years, while laws, heirs and wealth keep changing.
If you have a plan that might be outdated, or if you need to create an estate plan, please take a look at our Asset Protection page to find out how the Law Offices of Frye & Vasquez can assist you.
