Family Focus - Part 4

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3


Bill, the construction company owner, and Susie, his wife, are now in their late sixties and retired. They decide to make an appointment with their attorney and find out their attorney has also retired. Luckily for them, their attorney's son has taken over the management of the firm and is more than happy to meet with them. After some initial hesitation due to the age gap, they find their attorney's son to be very knowledgable and relatable. (Shameless self-promotion.)

Bill and Susie had very lucrative careers in the construction industry.  They now own all of their real estate outright, and they made a hefty profit on the sale of their business.  Their entire net worth is right around seven million dollars.

Little Billy, their son, graduated with a bachelor's degree and took his golf talents all the way to the Web.com tour.  However, his golf career was cut short with ongoing shoulder problems, and he went back to school to get his MBA.  With the help of a technology guru he met at grad school, they created a golf practice aid that is now widely utilized by PGA professionals and amateur golfers worldwide. He is now the part-owner of a company that employs approximately six hundred people.

Annie, their daughter, dropped out of college after two years to pursue an acting career.  Tragically, Annie was involved in a car accident late one night that left her severely brain damaged.  She was able to make a miraculous physical recovery, but only has the mental capacity of a twelve-year-old. Bill and Susie are very concerned about how their daughter will be cared for when they are gone.

Bill and Susie's attorney recommends that they execute Wills that create a Special Needs Trust for Annie.  After they are both gone, Little Billy is more than happy to act as the Trustee of his sister's Trust and to take over as her Guardian.  Little Billy is more than financially secure himself, and suggests that his parents leave everything they own to Annie's Trust.  They all mutually agree that anything not utilized for Annie's care should go to the Brain Trust, a charitable entity whose goal is to further the research on treating traumatic brain injuries.

Although Bill and Susie do not yet have any federal estate tax issues, the State they live in does present them with some estate tax obstacles.  Most of the couple's assets are owned by Bill.  Their attorney recommends that they equalize the ownership of their assets and create Family Trusts within their Wills to make sure whichever one of them survives does not own all of the couple's assets outright.  This plan should save them a substantial amount of tax when they are both gone and hopefully will provide the Brain Trust with an even larger donation.

Susie is still more than willing to act as Bill's agent under his powers of attorney.  Bill is willing to deal with Susie's healthcare-related decisions, but he has gotten pretty used to Susie handling the finances for them.  He suggests that his wife make Little Billy her agent for property-related matters in the event Susie can no longer handle the couple's business affairs.  Little Billy is more than happy to help out his parents after all the incredible opportunities they provided him during his life.