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8 U. Kan. L. Rev. 590 (1959-1960)
Estate Planning for the Small Businessman

handle is hein.journals/ukalr8 and id is 608 raw text is: [Vol. 8 ESTATE PLANNING FOR THE SMALL BUSINESSMAN James K. Logan* The expression small businessman is somewhat indefinite. It may include a person in nearly any type of occupation, from grocery owner to manufacturer. The term includes individuals who operate single proprietorships, who are members of partnerships, or who own controlling shares in closely-held corpora- tions. Such a person's estate may be so small as to involve no estate or inheritance taxes, or it may require large sums for the payment of taxes unless devices for effecting substantial tax savings have been employed. Many millionaires con- sider themselves small businessmen, and rightly so. Perhaps most people who go to a lawyer for the drafting of a simple will or the formulation of a more complicated estate plan are in the category of the small businessman. Accordingly, the assigned title is so broad that this article could be a summary review of all the techniques utilized by attorneys currently specializing in this area. Whole treatises have been written on these techniques and are available to most lawyers, however, and while there will be summariza- tion to some extent in this article, the principal emphasis will be upon the special problems of passing the family business from one generation to the next. The persons whose situations are considered here are those who have most of their assets tied up in a trade or business which, as a practical matter, has to be treated as a unit and which is capable of being carried on after the death of the present owner. The problems of the farmer are not treated, partly because much of the farm's productivity is from the land itself, and thus survives division into shares, and partly because the author has treated some of the farmer's special estate planning problems elsewhere in a recent article.' The practice of a pro- fessional man, such as a doctor or lawyer, cannot be continued beyond his death for the benefit of his widow and descendants since a unique, specialized personal service is involved which ends with the death of the individual performing the service. In such a case it may be possible, of course, to make inter vivos arrange- ments with partners or employees whereby those serving the clients after the professional man's death will pay financial benefits to his family. Throughout the discussion there will be considerable emphasis upon taxa- tion. Most small businessmen have estates large enough to involve tax problems, which frequently provide the impetus for inter vivos gifts and which often dictate the form of the dispositions by will. If the decedent has an estate worth *Assistant Professor of Law, The University of Kansas. A.B. 1952, The University of Kansas; LL.B. 1955, Harvard University. ' See Logan, Estate Planning: The Special Problems of the Farmer in Dispositions by Will, 32 RocKy MT. L. REV. (April 1960).

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