For Professional Advisors

You are invited to an Open House at the offices of WILSON LAW GROUP.  We are introducing Shayna Borakove, Peter Osman, & Stephanie Monday as our new Associate Attorneys.

Description: This program will discuss potential problem areas of estate, trust and probate administration that could lead to a dispute or litigation involving your clients. All wealth planning professionals, including financial advisors, CPAs and attorneys, need to be aware of these potential pitfalls when advising clients and/or drafting documents to avoid that “3 AM call”. Many of these types of professionals are not experienced in litigation and need to hire an attorney who is. Or you could be called as a witness, which would necessitate another attorney handling the dispute. Attend this program to help learn how to avoid a dispute or litigation that could potentially expose you as a lawsuit defendant.

Description:  As most people know, Congress passed a historic healthcare bill which will affect virtually every American. What most people don’t know, though, is that within this voluminous new law is a special provision adding a “surtax” to high-income taxpayers. In a nutshell, starting in 2013 people who make over $200,000 ($250,000 if married filing jointly) will be subject to an additional 3.8% Medicare tax on the lesser of: (1) “net investment income” (e.g., interest, dividends, capital gains, royalties, passive income, etc.) or (2) the excess of “modified adjusted gross income” (“MAGI”) over $200,000 ($250,000 if married filing jointly).

Notwithstanding the above, it is important to point out that neither traditional IRA (or other qualified retirement plan) distributions nor Roth IRA distributions are considered “net investment income” for purposes of the 3.8% Medicare tax. However, traditional IRA distributions do count towards the MAGI threshold calculation, but Roth IRA distributions do not count. Accordingly, there is a window of opportunity for high-income taxpayers to convert to a Roth IRA so as to avoid application of the 3.8% Medicare “surtax”.

Description:  Business succession planning is often difficult for business owners – and for their advisors – because the particular owner may have multiple and sometimes competing transfer motives. However, the owner may not fully understand these various motives, or what is truly driving the transfer of the business. Doing so, however, has a profound impact on business owners’ willingness to move forward with any proposed succession plan.

• The importance of determining, early on in the planning process, the business owner’s motives
• Matching the business owner’s motives with possible transfer channels
• How those transfer channels influence the ultimate transfer method or methods chosen
• How the business transfer methods selected impact the value of the company
• The importance of discussing all of the above with the business owner so as to enhance the business owner’s efficacy of the planning process, both business and personal

Description:  For our clients owning closely held business interests, business succession planning is a critical component of the planning effort. As advisors, we must be at least generally aware of the various “tools” that are available to help our clients reach their planning objectives. This general understanding “opens the door” to client centered collaborations with advisors who are able to design and implement the desired planning structures.

This presentation will illustrate the application of one particular planning tool that is often useful in situations where a client’s goal is to pass a family business interest “down stream” – i.e., to one or more younger generation family member(s). The transaction is generally referred to as a “sale to a grantor trust” transaction.