Recent News

April 7, 2006

Estate planning and the family limited partnership

Several years ago, the IRS began to attack the widely used "family limited partnership" (FLP) by advancing several theories under which the IRS took the position that the FLP should be disregarded for estate and gift tax purposes. Under each of these theories, the IRS sought to have an FLP disregarded even if the FLP was validly formed and existing under state law. Subsequent court cases have addressed the viability of the FLP in light of these IRS attacks. The question facing practitioners today is whether the FLP continues to be an attractive vehicle which can be used to achieve a variety of estate planning objectives.

J. Troy Terakedis, Calfee Halter & Griswold, will discuss the family limited parnership in regards to estate planning as one of the topics at the Probate Law Institute, held on April 26 from 8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. This topic will provide a primer on FLPs, including how FLPs can be incorporated as part of a client's estate plan in order to accomplish goals such as the centralization of family wealth for better and more efficient asset management; the facilitation of gifting of assets to younger generation family members in a tax-efficient manner; the retention of management and control of family assets by the older generation; and the reduction of exposure of family assets to the claims of creditors. In addition, given the increased scrutiny given FLPs by the IRS, the discussion will include the best way in which to structure and operate FLPs in order to reduce the likelihood of a successful IRS challenge.

During the lunch hour of the institute, John Federico of HMU Consulting will present a technology demonstration of how lawyers can use a digital voice recorder to dictate information and then use Dragon Naturally Speaking which can automatically transcribe the voice recordings. A free lunch for the institute will be provided by CBS Agency, and pre-registration is required to be assured a lunch.

Reserve your spot now to earn 6.5 hours of CLE credit as well as a free lunch! Register online at www.cbalaw.org or call 614/221.4112. Registration for members is $195 prepaid/$205 day of; for non-members is $225 prepaid/$235 day of; and for paralegals is $115 prepaid/$125 day of.