From a business perspective, a comprehensive estate plan ensures your client's business will transfer to the successors they have chosen without financial or personal hardship to the business or its successors. From a personal side, estate planning is for your clients' loved ones. Everyone feels the struggles in the worldwide economy, but having your clients review their overall estate plan might help them find extra money.
 
Result #2: Two and a half years ago our client sold a portion of his business to trusts for his children with a nine-year promissory note. When the promissory note was executed, the minimum interest rate that could be used was 5.01%. We advised our client that, in light of the economic impact on the business and the assets in the children's trusts, they could renegotiate the note in March and use the current mid-term applicable federal rate of 1.94%, saving over $1 million in interest. This can be viewed as $1 million tax free gift to the children's trusts. This strategy works for any loans, regardless of whether they are business or personal in nature. Happy planning!
 
For more information contact Brinette Rounds, Director of Estate and Financial Planning at brounds@bpcpa.com or 425.289.7618.