Reply #92: You should have been buying the business over the years. [View All]

[JDPriestly]

There are various ways to plan for succession in a family business. For example, part of a child's pay for working for a family business should may be that the child buys an ever increasing portion of the shares in the business. The child's parents could loan the money to the child to buy the business as as the child worked for the company over the years. Then, at the end, when the child's parents retire, the child pays back the money the parents loaned and thereby funds the parents' retirement. With proper estate planning, the child does not have to "inherit the place." The child earns and buys his or her ownership in the family business. Proper estate planning protects not only the child working in the family business but also the other children.

Families who own a business should consult a lawyer early on about protecting the family's assets, taxes and estate planning.

If you have put a lot into the business, you are not a trust fund bum. Trust fund bums do exist.