(408) 443-2397San Jose Wealth Planning & Family Transfers Attorney
Helping Family Members, Small Business Owners, and Property Owners Transfer Wealth and Assets According to Their Wishes in Santa Clara County
As you build wealth for yourself and your loved ones, you want to ensure your family is well taken care of in the future. Many of us know the risks of families having great disputes over their deceased parents’ estates.
To avoid these unfortunate and often avoidable fights from happening to your family, it is critical to work with an experienced, proven estate and probate lawyer. This is especially true within California’s very complex trust and probate laws.
It is essential to get competent advice about estate planning. Below are some common topics your attorney might discuss:
Estate Tax
Estate tax is a financial charge on a person’s net worth when the person dies. Each person has an exemption (an amount that can pass free of estate tax). Everything above the exemption is subject to tax. An experienced and trustworthy attorney will consult with their clients on all probate and trust administration aspects. We will also help fiduciaries with tax activities for estates.
Gift Tax
A gift tax is a tax on the value of property transferred by an individual who receives less than fair value in return. Gift tax applies to transfers of any type of property.
Family Businesses
For family business owners, it is crucial to prepare a business succession plan to continue the family’s income and business success. Special attention should be paid to preventing conflict that could hamper a business’s ability to continue operations after you die. A business succession plan can be drafted in various ways, and a reliable attorney will be more than happy to assist you every step of the way.
Real Estate Property
Real property, or real estate, can be a source of income and security. After your death, real estate can be a benefit or a burden to your family. Beneficiaries may fight to keep or liquidate a specific property. A lawyer can help to ensure your real property will be correctly directed.
What Are the Key Considerations for Family Wealth Transfers?
Several different factors must be considered before planning how to transfer wealth to a surviving spouse, children, or other family members.
Consider how much your assets are worth. Your personal or business-related assets could include real estate property, investments, bank accounts, motor vehicles, or anything else of financial value. If you do not know the answer to the value of your assets, it is recommended that you seek an appraisal for potentially highly valuable property.
Determine what you would like to achieve with wealth planning and family wealth transfers. Do you want to provide for your surviving loved ones after you are gone? Do you have a particular cause that you are passionate about and would like to donate to? Whatever your personal goals, we understand that they may change over time. Contact our legal team for experienced counsel about wealth and business planning for your estate plan.
You must also know who you want to transfer wealth and property to. You may elect to transfer wealth to family members, close friends, charities, or other organizations. Also, choosing the proper trustee for managing trusts and a personal representative for estate administration is essential.
Strategic wealth transfer planning often requires the legal and financial assistance of accountants and experienced estate planning attorneys who have the knowledge to assist you in the practice areas of business, estate, elder, and trust law. Our California law firm can provide valuable assistance and legal guidance in the construction of your support team.
What Estate Planning Services May Be Useful for Family Business Owners?
Our law firm proudly supports and advises California business owners in business succession planning. Whatever your plans are, we can assist you in selling your business, planning to pass it down to the next generation, and providing legal options for preserving business assets. We have legal experience assisting business owners, their families, managers, entrepreneurs, investors, and key employees.
Successful business planning commonly involves the following areas:
- An attorney can provide legal advice on the negotiation of business transfers and tax impacts on any sale, merger, or business succession
- If you own a business and you’d like to pass it on, we can provide valuable legal assistance. A smooth business transition of ownership or management can be integrated into your wealth transfer planning
- Our firm can help you with restructuring legal entities
- We will explore alternatives for management staff and other key employees, including potentially suggesting buy-sell agreements, new employment contracts, non-qualified deferred compensation agreements, and insured or non-insured fringe benefits
- It may be worth considering plans to shift business equity within the business structure for successful managerial succession
- We will review liability exposures to small or family-owned businesses to help minimize the risks of a tax controversy or loss of business control
- Mergers and acquisitions, including the purchase of new business opportunities, could be a point of interest
- Our legal team can assist you in setting up appointments with appraisers to value business assets
- Collaborating with insurance professionals, we will review life insurance programs and buy-sell agreements funding insurance options
Can Elder Law Attorneys Assist You in Wealth Preservation and Planning?
As you prepare for aging, you must consider the implications of medical eligibility, long-term care planning, incapacitation, powers of attorney, and wealth preservation and transfer. These concerns are the meeting point between estate and elder law.
As a highly respected estate planning and elder law firm, our attorney and legal staff can provide valuable guidance in asset protection, wealth preservation, and family wealth transfers. We will explore ways to avoid probate court, reduce the expense to family members, preserve medical qualifications, protect beneficiaries’ interests in litigation cases, and use tools such as a revocable living trust and other estate planning tools.
Our law office can also monitor and represent conservatorships, conservators, and conservatees in complex legal issues.
You’ve worked hard for your fortune. You’ve built your estate brick by brick. Let us help you preserve it for the next generation.
Schedule a Consultation with a San Jose Wealth Planning and Family Transfers Lawyer Today
Divorce, lawsuits, creditor claims, bad spending habits, and hostile takeovers can threaten family wealth, business investments, or other interests. It is necessary to consider ways in which you may transfer business ownership and family-held wealth to your surviving loved ones in the future. Our California law firm would be happy to provide legal assistance.
Our law offices represent clients across California, including San Jose, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, and the San Francisco Bay area. If you have questions or concerns about wealth planning and family transfers of personal assets or business interests, please contact our law firm to discuss your case today.
Schedule a no-obligation case evaluation with our legal team today by calling 408-443-2397.