Effective estate planning may be the most important and rewarding process for both a client and a CPA. Our professionals focus on helping our clients achieve four major goals through estate planning:
- To derive the most benefit from assets during the client's lifetime;
- To transfer assets during the client's life and/or at the client's death in the manner and to the people or entities intended (this includes facilitating the smooth transition of the client's business);
- To minimize income, estate, and other transfer taxes associated with the ownership and transfer of assets; and
- To avoid or reduce probate procedures, delays, and costs.
These goals are important to all clients. Planning the business owner's estate involves special issues and opportunities. Our professionals, before beginning an estate plan, get to know the client. This process involves gaining an understanding of: (a) the client's family; (b) the client's business and other assets, including their value and special characteristics; (c) the role of other people who are in the client's "inner circle"; and (d) other facts that may impact the client's planning, e.g., the client's potential inheritances, the client's and spouse's insurability, the client and his family's citizenship, previous planning, and existing and potential creditor issues.
Pontiff + Associates, P.C. professionals often focus on estate planning for clients who own small businesses. When developing an estate plan for a small business owner, we focus on several goals. The estate plan should:
- Establish a comprehensive program to maximize capital formation for the entire family;
- Reduce income taxes;
- Pass ownership (when and as appropriate) to the proper recipients with the lowest possible gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer taxes;
- Protect the assets from creditor's claims; and
- Take into account any other special needs of the family.
We are heavily involved in probate, post-mortem estate planning, estate accounting and estate tax return preparation. We provide personal attention and care to our clients during the management of an estate.