staten island high net worth lawyers
Family Limited Partnerships
An FLP is a limited partnership that is established by the members of a family. It allows you to protect your assets while also giving you access to gift tax savings. The high-net-worth individual also gets to retain control of their assets even after transferring them to the entity. A Family Limited Partnership gives you the opportunity to make gifts to beneficiaries. You may not have to pay gift tax on the transfers since these gifts are made using the gift tax exclusion that is allowed each year. This is dependent on the total amount of gifts and the value of your estate.
Life Insurance Trusts
One of the most common misconceptions is that the proceeds of life insurance are not subject to Federal Estate taxes. This is not the case because your loved ones can lose a significant amount to estate taxes. The proceeds do not have any taxable income. They are still considered to be a part of your taxable estate. You must take your estate taxes into account before committing to life insurance. Your attorney will be able to inform you about this and any other laws that might not be clear.
You can take up an irrevocable life insurance trust in order to avoid this. The policy is held separately from your estate. The proceeds are not taken to be a part of it. You can then put the proceeds to good use by using them to pay any estate taxes and debts that you accrue. You can use the annual gift tax exclusion to make cash gifts to the trust when the trust has been established. This will allow your beneficiaries to choose to receive future proceeds by foregoing the gifts. This helps you to minimize the taxes that you will have to pay in the end.
Qualified Personal Residence Trusts
Your home might be the largest components of all the assets in a taxable estate. They are the most valuable assets in most cases. A Qualified Personal Residence Trust allows you to pass down your home to your loved ones. You reserve the right to reside in it for a specific number of years when you transfer the title to a QPRT. You can pass it to your beneficiaries without paying any additional gift or estate taxes once the period is up.
Succession planning
This is one of the areas where you will require the services of your attorney the most. Succession and trust disputes are likely to arise because of the involvement of many different parties. An attorney will be able to take you through dispute resolution so that you can accommodate the interests of everyone. It is important that you seek out an attorney to do this so that everything is done within the law. This will protect you from unintended consequences in the future that could result in you paying more fees.
Governance
Agreements and contracts are an essential part of any partnership or business. A high net-worth individual with assets within their position needs to ensure that they use the correct wording when drafting these documents. This becomes hard if the assets are located in different countries. You will need an attorney who will be able to navigate through the legal hurdles and make sure that you are compliant. Your attorney can also help you to prepare governance structures, family charters, and shareholder agreements. It is important that these agreements are gotten right the first time. This is because of the legal ramifications that could arise in the future. It could lead to a long series of court cases that could have been avoided.
Asset Protection
The desire of any high-net-worth individual is that they retain control over their assets. This is important today because of the potential risks that one faces. You should sit down with your attorney to establish the effects that it will have to the assets that you own before committing to any agreements. Your attorney will be able to offer legal advice on family law. They will help you to draft a prenuptial and post-nuptial agreement that protects your interests. You can be confident that you will still have some form of control about whether or not your assets will be divided in the case of a divorce.
Your attorney will allow you to make informed decisions about your assets so that you are always prepared. They can work together with your financial planner to assess your situation and come up with a tailored and personalized estate plan that will work for you. This estate plan will save you from a lot of problems in the future. It will also allow you to transfer assets to your loved ones smoothly.
http://www.snyderlawpa.com/davie-broward-fl-high-net-worth-estate-planning-lawyer_pa9597.htm
https://www.burges-salmon.com/expertise/sector-expertise/private-wealth/hnw-and-uhnw-individuals/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-net-worth_individual
Staten Island Legal Services