Publications
The Tragedy Of The Commons: How A Life Crisis Effects Family Wealth
“Strategic planning, governance, and business processes take a back seat to the immediacy of the leader’s life crisis and how the crisis will be managed, ignored, or denied by the leader and the stakeholders in the organization. Response to the crisis largely determines the future and well-being of the business and the family.” -Steven S. Rolfe, MD
In most cases, a family leader plays the role of the governor of the engine that is the family wealth. The leader has the personal authority to set agendas and make decisions between competing demands on the common resources of the family. So long as they are able to act in such a way, disputes do not rise to the level of threatening the viability of the family enterprise. In Systems Dynamics there is a name for this situation, The Tragedy of the Commons.
Whither Donations Of Art To Museums In 2021?
What is the future of art collections and museum donations for 2021 and beyond?
Will museums with limited capacities be willing and able to accept specific artwork or even entire collections, now owned by artists and collectors who are in their 80’s and 90’s?
“What is required is planning for a current and ongoing collaboration between artists and collectors on one hand,and museums on the other for the creation and access to a virtual as well as physical collections.”
The Year Ahead - Proposed Tax Changes And Their Impact.
Tomorrow, January 2oth, Joe Biden will be sworn in and for the first time since 2009, the Democrats will control the White House, the House, and the Senate (though with Vice President Harris providing the tie-breaking vote). During the campaign there where a number of proposals, here are some:
● Increase corporate tax rates from 21% to 28%,
● For companies with over $100 million in net annual income, a corporate minimum tax of 15%, though net operating losses and foreign tax credits still apply,
● Increase the Global Intangible Low-Tax Income tax rates, imposed on foreign subsidiaries of US companies, from 10.5% to 21%,
FFI: Family Offices and Artwork: Mitigating the risks
Families that use family office services expect family office professionals to help them mitigate risks, both to investments and to concentrated illiquid holdings, such as real estate or closely-held businesses. What sometimes goes overlooked, however, is how to mitigate the risks of ownership of artworks, numismatics, jewelry, cars, and other collectibles. Risk mitigation for these treasures begins with documenting what the client has, aggregating the individual items into collections, and beginning the management of the items as a collection.
Forbes: Planning Checklist For S. Corp. Shareholders
When income is distributed to stockholders of U.S. corporations there are two levels of taxation: one at the corporate level (as adjusted net income) and one at the stockholder level (as dividend income). If the corporation and shareholders elect, the distributions to stockholders are treated as adjusted net income to the stockholder and the corporation pays no income taxes. This election is limited to small business corporations (a so-called S. Corp.) which are defined as a domestic U.S. corporation, which is not an ineligible corporation (a financial banking or DISC corporation), which does not have more than 100 eligible shareholders, all stockholders must be eligible persons or entities, and has only one class of stock outstanding.
Securing Treasures: What HNW Owners, Advisors Should Do
Families that use family office services expect family office professionals to help them mitigate risks, both investment and concentrated illiquid holdings, such as real estate and closely held businesses. Sometimes overlooked is how to mitigate the risk of the ownership of artwork, numismatics, jewelry, cars and other collectibles. Risk mitigation for these treasures begins with knowing what your client has, aggregating the individual items into collections and beginning the management of the items as a collection.
Forbes: Thoughts On Collecting Art
The recent death of famed art collector Sheldon Solow has raised in my mind the more common question for estate planners about what to do with art in an estate. Once a person starts accumulating Art, their mind often turns to forming a Collection. Any estate planner for the collector should ask some hard questions. The fact is that Art of every description are sold each year as adding to a collection; unhappily, most of these collections fail in the long or short term to be financially or artistically successful and end up being broken up at the death of the Collector. If you are intent on creating a collection, here are a few thoughts on what to do, and not do, from an estate planner’s perspective.
Forbes: Where Do We Go From Here?
I mentioned in a previous article on how not to tear a family business apart the usefulness of Scenario planning. I have had a few questions on what, exactly, scenario planning is and how it works with estate planning so here is a bit more on the technique.
Forbes: How Not To Tear A Family Business Apart
A May 2017 article in the Buffalo News by Lou Michel described the case of Aida Corey, her family and Permalink Products, a successful upstate New York manufacturer. It is well written and I strongly recommend you read it. In sum, Aida, who inherited the business from her husband, clearly was both suffering from some form of mental illness and was taken advantage of by non-family advisor who was in a position of influence.
Forbes: Qualified Opportunity Zone Investments: Does It Make Sense During The Covid 19 Crisis?
The Qualified Opportunity Zone (QOZ) investments Final Regulations published a year ago made clear some of the ambiguities noted in the Proposed Regulations, but so much has changed since then there is a question whether it makes sense to invest in a QOZ fund. QOZ investments remain a powerful, but uncertain, tax planning tool; but, one that any individual taxpayer who will realize large amounts of capital gains or an interest in impact investing, must consider.
Forbes: The 2020-2021 IRS Priority Guidance Plan
The IRS issued the Priority Guidance Plan for 2020-2021 on November 17, 2020. This plan contains the guidance projects that will be the focus of efforts during the 12-month period from July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021 (referred to as the plan year). The 2020-2021 Priority Guidance Plan contains 191 guidance projects and, as of September 30, 2020, 57 guidance items have been released.
Forbes: What if A Beneficiary Becomes An Addict?
Since the beginning of sheltering-in-place in response to the pandemic, there have been concerns about the impact the response has had on drug and alcohol recovery programs and their clients. This is to the extent where some are seeing substance abuse as a “pandemic within a pandemic”. Filling the gap in available treatment is a policy issue that has to be addressed by society, but trusts can be drafted so as to increase the likelihood of long term (2+ years) recovery from less than 25% to 92%.
Forbes: Cut Through The Fog: Ten Tests For A Family Business’ Succession Plan
How many know that your estate planning is the strategy to achieve your goals for growth, control, protection and succession?
An estate planning strategy of complexity for the sake of tax savings and starving the family for income to avoid debt will not achieve your goals in the future, since it has nothing to do with preserving the company as a going concern. Tactics used by professionals, such as the use of Family Limited Partnerships, are all about tax and debt avoidance. The estate plan will render your client’s strategies ineffective if your goal is to transfer control of the company intact in the future. Being able to test whether the estate plan works in your overall strategy both before and during implementation allows you to avoid much of the cost and delays of change after implementation.
Forbes: Flexibility is Key to Planning for LGBTQ, Blended Families, Cohabitation and Other Nontraditional Families
Some people are concerned that, with the new conservative 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court, that protections for non-traditional families will be rolled back. Regardless of the decisions at the Supreme Court, or the impact on the state family courts, there are many ways that non-traditional families can maintain control. This applies not only to the LBGTQ couples, but also for families where there is gay divorce, blended families and stepchildren, nonmarital cohabitation, single parents by choice, multinational families, children born through assisted reproductive technologies (ART); and transgender, or gender non-binary, or gender fluid individuals.
Forbes: What A Difference A Year Makes! Income Tax Changes Since December 2019
What a difference a year makes! Even before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this year, there have been changes to the income tax code with a significant impact on individual taxpayers. Here is a reminder of those significant changes and how they might affect you.
Forbes: New Sanctions Announced For Art Deals With Sanctioned Persons
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued an advisory on sanctions risks arising from dealings in high-value artwork associated with persons blocked pursuant to OFAC’s authorities, including persons on OFAC’s List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons. This applies to art galleries, museums, private art collectors, auction companies, agents, brokers, and other participants in the art market because high-value artwork transactions may play a role in blocked persons accessing the U.S. market and financial system in violation of OFAC regulations.
Forbes: Jacob Lawrence’s ‘Struggle’ - What To Do Before Your Art Becomes Famous
Hillary Sheets reported in the New York Times on the recent discovery of the 1956 Jacob Lawrence work “Struggle”, a long thought lost piece of a series of 30 paintings on the nation’s early history. The owners of the piece purchased the work at a charity auction in 1960 and knew who the artist was, but not the significance, of the painting. A sharp-eyed visitor to the Metropolitan Art Museum alerted the owners to the meaning of the painting in the broader context of Lawrence’s work and the Museum to its existence. The owners are not art collectors. The work is now famous, and estimated to be worth in the seven figures and so a significant asset. So, other than having keen-eyed friends to alert you to what you have, how can you find out if you have such artwork?
Forbes: Handling Debts in an Estate
The financial stress on both families and businesses as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic means an increasing level of debt for both. In reviewing estate plans today, one of the issues to consider is what would happen if a client who has significant debts, or is liable for debts incurred by their business, suddenly falls ill and dies? There is a process for handling debts of a decedent in estates, but it requires careful planning.