Estate and buy-sell insurance planning
Life insurance structured to pay estate taxes, treat heirs fairly, and fund the buyout when an owner dies, coordinated with your attorney and your taxes.
Estate and buy-sell insurance planning
The business is usually the biggest thing an owner leaves behind, and it's the hardest to turn into cash. When an owner dies, there are estate taxes to pay, heirs to treat fairly, and partners who need to buy out the family. We use life insurance to make sure that money is there, structured with the tax side built in from the start.
Estate tax liquidity
Estate tax is due within months of death. Without cash set aside, families sell property or the business itself at the worst possible time.
- Estimate the federal and state estate tax your estate could owe. Some states tax estates far below the federal exemption.
- Size coverage to pay it, often a survivorship policy on both spouses
- Owned the right way, typically through a trust your attorney sets up, so the payout itself isn't taxed in your estate
Fair inheritance
Leaving the business to the child who works in it can leave the others with nothing comparable. Splitting it among everyone can sink it.
- Insurance gives non-business heirs an equal share in cash
- The business stays with the person running it, without debt to buy out siblings
- Coordinated with your will, trust, and ownership plan
Buy-sell and cross-purchase funding
A buy-sell agreement says who buys a deceased owner's share and at what price. Without funding, it's a promise nobody can pay for.
- Company buyout: the business owns policies and buys back the deceased owner's share
- Cross-purchase: the owners hold policies on each other and buy the share directly, usually with a better tax result for the buyers
- The family gets paid in cash, and the business keeps running
Measure the gap
What the business is worth, what estate tax or buyout would be owed, and how much cash would actually be there.
Design the funding
Policy type, who owns it, and who receives it, set up with your attorney so the agreement, the trust, and the coverage match.
Keep it current
Business values and tax law change. We review coverage against both so a plan from five years ago doesn't come up short.
Life insurance is offered by Erik Cascio, a licensed insurance producer, in states where he is licensed, and may be compensated by commission. Trusts, wills, and buy-sell agreements are drafted by your attorney. Golden Tree does not provide legal or investment advice.
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