When a client owns a business, one question shapes the entire estate plan: what happens if they die, retire, become disabled, or want to transfer ownership? Closely Held Businesses: A Guide from Eckhardt's Workbook for Wisconsin Estate Planners helps you answer it. The book draws from Eckhardt's Workbook for Wisconsin Estate Planners, the estate-planning classic Wisconsin attorneys have relied on for decades. It organizes the planning around the moving parts of business ownership: entity form, transfer to the next generation, buy-sell agreements, transfer restrictions, and postmortem tax planning.  

Many Wisconsin attorneys serve clients who own family businesses, farms, LLCs, professional practices, or closely held corporations. These clients may not see themselves as having complex estates, yet their business interests can create complicated planning issues. Designed for fast use, Closely Held Businesses provides you with estate planning information specific to business ownership so you can advise business-owner clients with confidence, identify issues early, and recognize when a matter calls for more specialized planning. 

This title equips you to: 

• Recognize when a standard estate plan is not enough for a client who owns a business
• Evaluate how the form of ownership affects liability, taxation, control, and transfer planning
• Plan the transfer of a family business to the next generation while balancing business survival, family harmony, and fair treatment of children
• Assess, draft, and review buy-sell agreements that address who may purchase an interest, how value is determined, how payment is made, and how management continuity is preserved
• Use transfer restrictions to preserve family ownership and control and avoid unintended tax consequences
• Address postmortem tax planning and liquidity concerns without forcing a sale of the business 

For estate planners, business attorneys, solo/small-firm practitioners, general practitioners, probate/trust administration attorneys, and newer lawyers, it is the reference to reach for first when a client's estate plan includes a business. 

When a client owns a business, one question shapes the entire estate plan: what happens if they die, retire, become disabled, or want to transfer ownership? Closely Held Businesses: A Guide from Eckhardt's Workbook for Wisconsin Estate Planners helps you answer it. The book draws from Eckhardt's Workbook for Wisconsin Estate Planners, the estate-planning classic Wisconsin attorneys have relied on for decades. It organizes the planning around the moving parts of business ownership: entity form, transfer to the next generation, buy-sell agreements, transfer restrictions, and postmortem tax planning.