In my family divorce work, I sometimes encounter situations where one party in a divorce intentionally prepared a tax return with a significant amount of taxable income not reported. In these instances the fraud[1] was not known by the other spouse. The IRS allows the spouse (“innocent spouse” in this instance) who had no knowledge …
No matter how long you avoid the succession planning discussion, you will exit the company one way or another. The worst-case scenario. The company ends up in probate court as a part of your estate. Best-case scenario. You contemplate all your options and decide what works best for you and your family so the next …
In a word – NO. But let’s look a little bit at the role of a trustee and the rights of a beneficiary. A trust is a legal agreement between two parties, a settlor (or grantor) and a trustee. Trusts are used to manage and protect the assets of the settlor. Trusts are used to …
When business entities are formed, they often execute agreements between the shareholders, partners or members that defines the price (or formula/methodology to determine the value) at which an owner is paid for his/her interest in the business in the event of death, disability, mental incapacity, divorce, bankruptcy, resignation or termination of employment and other triggering …
The day you’ve anxiously been waiting for is here. You open the mailbox and the papers you have been expecting are waiting for you. You pick up the envelope and acknowledge the sender. For a moment time stands still and you may look at the sky, hear the birds chirping, take a deep breath or …
When couples get divorced in Maricopa County Arizona, each spouse is required to submit to the court a document called an Affidavit of Financial Information [“AFI”]. The document, which can be prepared by the parties or their legal representatives, is also known as Form DROSC13f-010119. The AFI is used to assist the court in creating …
Sometimes, before your bank will finance an acquisition, they require a quality of earnings (“QoE”) report. You might be saying, what is a QoE report? A QoE report analyzes the earnings power of a business to determine how sustainable and accurate the business’ earnings are. Specifically, a QoE report digs into the seller’s financial information …
Last year I wrote an article that outlined several cases involving the Department of Labor and ESOP trustees. There have been some recent updates to these cases which again do not favor the trustees. Brundle v. Wilmington Trust In this case, Wilmington Trust (WT) was hired as an independent third-party trustee for a potential purchase …
Are you in the market to merge or acquire another company? Identifying four elements before the deal is complete can help make it a win-win for both parties. There are a handful of the problems that often arise in the mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”) process. To begin with, buyers tend to be overexuberant about the …
In the case of Estate of Streightoff vs Commissioner, the IRS argued that the interest to be valued in a family limited partnership (FLP) was a limited partner interest, not an assignee interest. The Tax Court agreed with the IRS noting characteristics of the property transferred and admission requirements of the FLP. Case background Streightoff …
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