|
AMBRECHT & ASSOCIATESWhat's New on the WebsiteUpdated June, 2008 |
HomePractice AreasResourcesPersonnelContacting Us |
Letter to Clients and Friends (May 2008) We are pleased to announce that Seth Schechter joined the firm in May of 2008. Seth obtained his law degree in 1996 and his LLM in Taxation in 2003. His experience includes not only estates and trusts, but also business entity formation, taxation and transactions. Seth, his wife and young daughter will now be making Santa Barbara their home, and we are delighted they have joined us.
New book: For Love & Money, Protecting Family & Wealth in Estate and Succession Planning, A New Approach Blending Law and Psychology, co-authored by by John W. Ambrecht, Howard R. Berens, M.D., and Richard Goldwater, M.D., with Tom Gorman, has been published in the Fall of 2007. The book will help you better understand why the family business failure rate is so high by understanding the relationship between the tax and non-tax reasons for such failures. It presents a new "conceptual framework" to use to integrate the tax and the non-tax issues by being able to manage the negative consequences of family dynamics in the family business succession process: The Roles and Rules (TM). To obtain a copy of the book, contact us. See our Seminars page for speaking engagements presenting the concepts contained in the book.On October 11, 2007, the Governor signed into law AB 198, designed to fix the problem with California's LLC "Gross Receipts Tax," which under prior law had given rise to three cases determing the fee to be unconstitutional (cases remain on appeal). Discussion linked here. Mixing Business with 'Family Stuff' by John W. Ambrecht, was published in the Montecito Journal, November 16, 2006, and gives an overview of the family issues Mr. Ambrecht and the firm integrate with estate, tax and family business planning. Single Member LLCs initially appeared attractive with the possibility of individuals (or married couples) obtaining similar liability protection as a corporation affords yet avoiding the double-tax at the corporate level with the pass-through taxation that a LLC affords. However, there are possible issues on the horizon which we are beginning to see reflected in some court cases, although a clear body of law has not yet been developed. See article, "A Single Member LLC May Present Issues for Liability Protection, Bankruptcy, Gift and Estate Taxes not Present Otherwise with an LLC." California FTB and BOE have now expressed opinions on the applicability of Delaware series LLCs in California. See article, "California Administrative Opinions Interpret Delaware Series LLCs." John W. Ambrecht has co-authored Risky Business: Family Succession and the Rules of Professional Conduct, published in California Trust & Estates Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 2, Summer, 2006. For lawyers and families alike, the California Rules of Professional Conduct create risks and pitfalls to accomplishing the shared vision to ease the transition of a family business from generation to generation. John W. Ambrecht also co-authored From Roles to Rules: A New Model for Managing Family Dynamics in the Estate Planning Process, published in California Trust & Estates Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 1, Spring, 2004. This article discusses estate planning for families who own businesses and other significant assets, addressing circumstances that often present difficulties which may derive from a family's internal dynamics and psychological issues. We still post our spreadsheets (either .xls or .pdf) showing the different yearly inflation adjustments for estate and gift taxes. This was posted a while ago, but if you have not yet read, "Experiencing the Family Trust," by Marion Murray Dentzel, it is worth looking at! It is an excellent first person account of dealing with trust administration after the death of a spouse (and her husband was an attorney!). We are also now posting items in the Adobe Acrobat .pdf file format. If you do not yet have your free Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it for free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html
For comments about this web site, email green@taxlawsb.com |
