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In case you missed the latest episode, I got you!
In this week’s episode, we pick up with Steve Sr. just days away from starting his federal prison sentence and Kacie’s juggernaut tallow skincare line as the only way for the McBees to “save the family farm.” Steve Jr. and Kacie have a hard conversation wherein Steve Jr. suggests that McBee Farms holds a 20% stake in Kacie’s business, Allie (his girlfriend of a few months) will get another 20% for “marketing help” and Kacie retains the remainder interests. Of course, Kacie refuses to give Allie a cut, saying the business is hers and she is not comfortable handing part of it to Allie (did we learn nothing from Galina?).
Anyhooooo, as I was watching, I couldn’t help but provide a solution for them. Hear me out.
Since the tallow business has three players (Kacie, Steve Jr. and McBee Farms), my suggestion is for Steve Jr. to hold his interest in the business not individually, but through a trust. So, the members of the tallow LLC are Kacie, Steve Jr.’s trust and McBee Farms (yes an LLC or corporation can be a member of another LLC). Now, Steve Jr. can include his girlfriend de Jure (in this case Allie) as a beneficiary of his trust. Of course, Steve Jr’s trust would be revocable so should things deteriorate between Allie and Steve Jr. (spoiler alert, they don’t make it), he can amend his trust and remove her.
There you have it. We learn that you can hold your interest in an LLC (or corporation) through a trust (as opposed to in your name individually). Not only will that avoid probate, but it will also allow you to include loved ones in your business venture (in a revocable way) without annoying your business partners. We also learn that estate planning can’t fix all bad dating decisions, but it can prevent obvious ownership disputes.
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