If I had to name one difference between private foundations (PFs) in the 20th and 21st centuries, I would use one word: In both centuries, plenty of PFs have made grants to operating public charities, without expecting anything in return other...

Much of the wealth being transferred in the United States today is in the form of highly appreciated illiquid assets: family businesses, closely held stock, real estate and interests in limited liability companies (LLCs) and limited partnerships ...

Since 2006, taxpayers have won three significant victories related to valuation clauses. Numerous articles have been written on McCord,1 Christiansen2 and Petter,3 explaining both the legal underpinnings of those decisions and touting the...

Family businesses are different from other businesses. Besides unique estate tax, succession and governance issues, family businesses must also deal effectively with past, present and future family members, family values and the inevitable family...

On Oct. 26, 2009, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman, speaking at the annual meeting of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), announced the IRS' creation of a new audit unit, the Global High Wealth Unit...

Selling a family business is typically complicated and fraught with emotional issues for the owner. The owner is selling his means of livelihood, and more the composition of his net worth, which will migrate from business earnings to a portfolio...

For those of us in the business of providing client services, success is heavily dependent on our ability to offer the most comprehensive, cutting-edge information available. No matter how good we may be individually, we can always be better by...

Leo Tolstoy begins Anna Karenina with the line: Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Much the same can be said for successful multi-generational family businesses as well as family businesses that are...