QTIP Trusts, Explained: Claim the Marital Deduction Now and Still Control Where Your Assets Go
A QTIP trust claims the marital deduction under Section 2056 now while you — not your spouse — decide where the assets go after your spouse dies.
#succession-planning
Succession Planning
Strategies for transferring business ownership and leadership to ensure long-term continuity
The ESOP Repurchase Obligation: The Growing Buyback Bill Every Employee-Owned Company Must Budget For
A mature ESOP must buy back 2–5% of its shares yearly at fair market value — model the curve early and fund it with recycling, redeeming, or releveraging.
Selling or Swapping a Life Insurance Policy Can Make the Death Benefit Taxable
Under IRS Section 101(a)(2), selling a life policy for value makes the death benefit taxable above your cost — five exceptions decide if you owe.
Farm Succession Planning: How to Pass the Land, the Equipment, and the Management to the Next Generation Without Splitting the Family
Only 23% of family farms have a succession plan. Transfer management first, use LLC interests plus IRS Sections 2032A and 6166, and keep the farm intact.
Your Beneficiary Designations Override Your Will: The Audit Every Business Owner Should Run
A beneficiary form beats your will. Audit every 401(k), IRA, life policy, POD and TOD account for missing contingents, ex-spouses and minors.
Concentrated Stock Risk: When Your Business Is Most of Your Net Worth
About 70% of a business owner's wealth sits in the business; measure the ratio, then diversify with staged sales, Section 1202 QSBS, and outside accounts.
Selling the Family Business to Your Children Without Handing the IRS a Second Payday
An IRS Section 453 installment sale spreads the gain across your retirement, while $19,000 annual gifts and 20-40% valuation discounts move value tax-free.
Stock Sale vs. Asset Sale: A Small Business Seller's Guide to the Tax and Liability Trade-Offs
In a stock sale the seller reports one capital gain and the buyer inherits every liability; in an asset sale the price is allocated across seven Form 8594 classes, so depreciation recapture, inventory, and C corporation double taxation convert much of the gain to ordinary income. Here is how each structure taxes the seller, what the 338(h)(10) election and personal-goodwill carve-out change, and which liabilities follow you past closing.
Passing Your House to Your Kids Without Probate: How Transfer-on-Death and Lady Bird Deeds Work
A transfer-on-death deed names a beneficiary for your house the way you would for a bank account — recorded now, revocable any time, effective only at death. More than 30 states plus DC authorize one; Florida and Michigan use the Lady Bird (enhanced life estate) deed instead. Here is what each does, how to record one correctly, and the filing errors that send families back into a 9-to-18-month probate.
The Small-Business Retirement Wave: How to Build an Exit Buyers Will Actually Pay For
A March 2026 survey of about 1,000 U.S. small business owners found 40% expect to retire within a decade while 70% have no formal succession plan. Buyers price a small business on seller's discretionary earnings times a 2x–4x multiple, discounted for owner dependency, customer concentration and unreliable books. This guide lays out a six-part, three-to-five-year plan — two target numbers, three years of clean financials, operational replaceability, risk de-concentration, a deliberate exit path (third-party sale, family succession, management buyout or ESOP), and a reverse-built timeline with a CPA and attorney — plus the three mistakes that shrink exits.
Holding Company vs. Operating Company: When Two Sets of Books Beat One
A holding company owns the assets and an operating company runs the business, but the liability firewall between them holds only if each entity keeps its own bank account, its own ledger, and documented intercompany loans, leases and settlements. This guide covers when the two-company structure pays off for a small business, when it is pure overhead, how to book intercompany transfers correctly, and why consolidated financial statements differ from the 80-percent-ownership consolidated tax return.
The Succession Planning Perception Gap: Why 65% of Small Business Owners Have No Exit Plan — and How to Build One Buyers Will Trust
40% of small business owners plan to retire within 10 years but 70% have no formal succession plan and only 8% are fully prepared; Revenued finds 59% of successors assume a plan exists while only 35% of owners have one — this guide explains the 24-point gap, valuation methods, clean-book QofE prep, and a 12-month exit plan to make your business lending-ready.