By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law As we head into the final weeks of the year, you may experience some pushback from clients and prospective clients you are meeting with. In particular, they may say that the holiday time is too busy and they’d like to revisit things sometime next year. The problem with this is that once they leave your office, it’ll be much harder to circle back with them, get them in, and get them re-motivated to do the planning and do business…
Nevada Restricted LLC/LP – How to Get Larger Valuation Discount
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished) A large part of estate planning involves using techniques to compress value to transfer assets of larger value to the next generation with minimal taxes. To do this, estate planners often use family limited liability companies and family limited partnerships to facilitate gifting and installment sales of minority interests or non-voting interests to family members or irrevocable trusts for the benefit of family members. Under Code Section 2704(b) and Treasury Regulations §25.2704-2(a), if an interest in an entity is transferred to or for the benefit of a member of the transferor’s family, any…
One of the Most Important Documents that Most Estate Planners Don’t Have
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach If you’re an estate planning attorney with your own law practice, there’s a good chance that you don’t have one of the most important manuals in your practice: an Employee Handbook. In fact, this may also be the case for other estate planning professionals as well, such as CPAs, financial advisors, or life insurance agents. The fact is, if you have your own business and you have employees working for you, an employee handbook is a must-have necessity as part of your business for all of the reasons laid out below. What Kinds of…
How Estate Planning Firms Use Pay-Per-Click Advertising Responsibly
By Foster Web Marketing Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) isn’t as easy or cheap as some marketing companies would have you believe. It’s a highly competitive marketing channel, especially for lawyers. That constant competition drives up the cost of popular keywords, even when those keywords aren’t necessarily effective at attracting the clients and cases you want. It also takes high-level research, technical know-how, and constant adjustment to get a good return on your PPC investment. So, if you approach it with the expectation that it’s going to be this simple, single-channel solution to all your marketing woes, you’re going to be disappointed. …