How Business Interests Create Estate Planning Blind Spots
A beautiful estate planning binder doesn’t mean your plan is complete, especially when business interests or stock grants are involved. In this Tuesday Triage episode, Jill Mastroianni unpacks a listener question about distributing a family business in a blended family and uses it to expose one of the most common estate-planning blind spots: assumptions about ownership.
Through real-world examples and practical guidance, Jill walks listeners through how to identify who actually owns a business interest, what that ownership really means, and why these details matter long before a crisis forces the issue.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
Why business interests and stock grants are often the weakest link in an otherwise solid estate plan
How a “perfect” estate planning binder can still be full of gaps
Why contributing money to a business does not automatically mean you own the business interest
How to use tax documents like Schedule K-1s and Form 1099-DIVs to identify ownership
The difference between pass-through entities and C corporations, and why that matters
How buy-sell agreements work in family businesses and how life insurance funds them
A practical starting point for gathering reliable business information using the Secretary of State’s records
Resources & Links
The Death Readiness Playbook. A practical system to help you translate documents into real-world readiness and fill in the gaps that estate plans often miss. https://www.deathreadiness.com/playbook
Tennessee Secretary of State – Business Entity Search. Use this link to look up entity details and historical filings): https://tncab.tnsos.gov/business-entity-search
Connect with Jill:
Website: DeathReadiness.com
Email: jill@deathreadiness.com
Learn more about Jill’s services
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