Is Your Kid a Stockholder- and Divorce Devil Is Circling?

摘要

Are you thinking of transferring stock to your kids or to one or more of your kids who already owns stock in your closely held business? Beware: You, your family and your business could be starting on a dangerous trip... Dangerous to your economic and tax health. But take heart. This article shows you how to have a safe and rewarding (economically and tax-wise) trip. Every time!Let's set the scene: A typical owner (we'll call him Joe) of a family-owned business (we'll call it Success Co.) called me to consult (or get a second opinion) about transferring his business to one or more of his children. For our purposes, Joe can have three kinds of children: (I) married or single, (2) own stock of Success Co. or don't, and (3) work for Success Co. or don't. Let's start with Joe's oldest child, Ed, who is single, works full time for Success Co., but owns no stock of Success Co. As long as any stock that Ed will eventually own (or owns now) is nonmarital property to start with, the stock is safe from Ed's spouse-to-be (let's call her Sue). Sue can only have an interest in marital property, which can only be created after Ed and Sue marry.