Estate Planning

Are you looking for assistance with estate planning?
 

At Fralick Financial & Insurance Inc. we work with a team of lawyers, accountants and tax specialists to provide you the best holistic estate planning advice.

We provide estate planning for individuals and for business owners.

We provide individuals with the following estate planning solutions:

• Planning of wills and power of attorneys
• Assistance in the appointing of trustees and guardians
• Establishing Family Trusts
• Tax Planning

We offer business owners and professionals assistance in estate planning using many different stategies such as:

• Estate Freezes
• Family Trusts
• Will Planning
• Insured Retirement Programs
• Utilizing Capital Dividends

We specialize in implementing the strategy of an estate freeze for business owners.

An estate freeze is a unique tax strategy available to small business owners. It's used to "freeze" the value of your business and related tax on your death and transfer the future growth and tax liability to next generations.

As an example, if you have shares worth $500,000 that could potentially grow to $2 million in your lifetime, you can use an estate freeze to cap your taxable assets at $500,000. You will not pay immediate tax on any capital gains and the $1,500,000 in expected capital gains will be taxed to your children, grandchildren or other future owner.

We've helped our business clients execute this flexible wealth technique in a number of ways, but the basic concept is the same: parents exchange their existing equity shares for preferred shares, which do not grow in value, and issue new common shares to adult children at a nominal value.

The benefits include:
- you retain control of the business, if desired
- income is split with your children, who receive company distributions from the date of the freeze as well as the eventual capital gains on the sale
- tax on capital gains can potentially be deferred for decades
- the capital gains exemption can be crystallized and divided amongst other family members

An estate freeze can be implemented through a holding company or a trust. If this strategy is combined with a life insurance policy, it can also offer additional benefits. With an estate freeze you will have a better idea of what the tax bill will be at the time of your death, allowing you to buy the right amount of insurance to pay your estate taxes. Alternatively, insurance could be used to provide funds for a child in the business to buy your shares, or a cash inheritance for children who are not involved in your business.

Estate freezes are difficult to reverse. You need to ensure you are leaving yourself enough assets to comfortably support you through what could be a long retirement.

An estate freeze is the cornerstone of many succession plans. Let our team help you determine how a full or partial freeze could be incorporated into your plan to save tax and meet your business goals.

Please contact us for more information on the estate planning solutions we have to offer.