October 7, 1999 | Read Time: 1 minute
Preserving the Legacy of a Family-Owned Business: A Psychology of Business Succession and Estate Planning
By Tim Bachmeyer and William A. Snyder
Setting up one’s estate to benefit charity is an excellent way to insure the survival of a family business, write the authors.
Mr. Bachmeyer is a fund raiser and psychologist, and Mr. Snyder is a lawyer, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The book is intended for both planned-giving professionals who want to keep their clients informed about the latest developments, and for business owners who are unsure of how to shape their legacies.
The authors invent a family that they say embodies the concerns of real-life owners who want their companies to endure after they die.
The father, 62-year-old Bob Baker, runs a $3-million company — Baker Pumps — but is reluctant to hand over the reins to his children. They include a daughter whose husband is lazy and a son who works at the company but is “no Einstein.”
Through several “family retreats” with a tax lawyer and a family counselor, Bob Baker realizes he misjudged his offspring. With his kids’ commitments and the establishment of charitable remainder trusts that benefit a medical center and a university, Mr. Baker insures that most of his estate won’t be swallowed by taxes.
Appendixes break down the family’s assets and also provide tables on estate tax and small-business exemptions from taxes.
Publisher: Estate and Business Communications, 7931 S.W. 45th Street, Davie, Fla. 33328; (954) 475-1139; 194 pages; $19.95 plus $6 postage and handling; I.S.B.N. 0-9660538-0-x.
