Financial Planning: Estate Planning

Articles   (Jump to FAQs)

Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs) And Your Company Stock (Part 1) 

Christopher Cline
The charitable remainder trust (CRT) is a mainstay of estate planning. Although designed for charitable giving, CRTs can play a role in financial planning for your stock grants.

Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs) And Your Company Stock (Part 2) 

Christopher Cline and Joshua Husbands
Restrictions can apply when you are funding a CRT with your company stock. These considerations dictate whether your strategy makes sense or is even possible.

Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs) And Your Company Stock (Part 3) 

Christopher Cline and Joshua Husbands
In this article we discuss the use of CRTs to diversify your company stock holdings, without immediate income tax liability, while you support an institution or cause you believe in.

Gifts: Save On Estate Taxes With Transferable Stock Options 

Susan Daley
After you die, taxes may be owed on the value of your property. One pillar of estate planning is to transfer assets that are likely to appreciate in value, such as stock options, out of your control long before you die.

Retirement Planning With Your Stock Options And Other Stock Compensation (Part 3: Post-Retirement Planning) 

Carol Cantrell
Tax planning for retirees can be more challenging that it was during their working years. You need to constantly monitor any options and company stock holdings as part of your overall portfolio. Part 3 looks at special issues that can arise after you retire, including Social Security; coordinating with required minimum distributions for IRAs and your 401(k); moving to another state; and the gifting of stock.

School Gifts That Skip Uncle Sam

Deborah Jacobs
BusinessWeek, 8/20/07
A Health & Education Exclusion Trust can pay university tuition for one or several generations and avoids problems with the generation-skipping transfer tax.

Estate Tax: What Repeal?

Raymond Fazzi
Financial Advisor, 3/05
Financial advisors are telling clients not to expect estate tax to disappear. The drafting of wills and estate plans has changed in ways that are more subtle than dramatic. (Although not specific to stock compensation, this article is of interest to anyone with substantial net worth in company stock and options.)

With A Couple Of Million, You Could Do A Lot Of Good: How To Set Up A Family Foundation

Elaine Silver
BusinessWeek, 4/10/00
Details on the whys and hows of family foundations, which can be gift-giving vehicles for your company stock.

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FAQs   (Jump to articles)

Can I name a beneficiary for my stock options, ESPPs, stock appreciation rights, or restricted stock? 

You should read the terms of your stock plan and grant agreement. If the plan allows...

Can stock options be transferred or gifted to people or charities after I get them? 

If your plan permits this and these are nonqualified stock options (NQSOs) and not incentive stock options (ISOs), transferable options raise complex issues concerning the valuation of the gift for tax purposes...

UPDATED! What is the tax treatment for gifts of company stock? 

It's similar to the tax treatment for any gifts of stock. You may make annual gifts to any number of recipient up to the specified annual amount without any tax impact. Financial advisors often tell clients with substantial stock holding to consider making...

Can I sell my options to a family trust or a family partnership to defer taxes? Are there other strategies to defer the gain on nonqualified stock options other than the deferred delivery of the shares? 

Be very careful, as IRS actions and new rules have essentially shut down the use of these techniques. Before recent developments, some tax planners advised...

Can ISOs be transferred to a grantor trust? 

The final rules for ISOs that the IRS issued on August 2, 2004, permit...

Why would I transfer stock options to a living trust? What is the tax impact? 

Assuming your stock plan allows this and it did not allow you to name a beneficiary, transferring unexercised vested options to a living trust would...

Does the post-death exercise period begin to run on the day after my death or only when my administrator, executor, or heir has authority to exercise the options? 

It begins to run on the day after your death, which is when your employment is officially terminated...

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