Chris Berens, Trust Officer-Vice President at Horicon Bank, speaks about success stories and strategies that small businesses can use for financial planning. He explains how he believes in working with third parties to help administer assets correctly when there are no family members available to turn to. He mentions the "holiday clause," which helps preserve relationships among family members by allowing them to back out of an investment if it doesn't have a sufficient business plan.

Chris emphasizes communication between family members as well as revising documents such as buy-sell agreements every three years or so. Lastly, he encourages families not to open joint accounts with anyone other than spouses due to potential complications and suggests discussing expectations for trusts prior to documentation choices being made relating to sentimental gifts given while still alive.

If you are a business owner looking for guidance on how to properly plan for the transition of your business, then you don't want to miss this episode. Tune in to learn more about how to make sure your wishes are carried out even after you are gone.

Episode Highlights

03:35 - At Horicon Bank, we are doing trust administration. So, when family members leave money in trust for other family members, someone needs to administer that and that's what we do. We're looking to carry out that father's or mother's wishes on how to care for their child or how to distribute funds to their child over time.

12:22 - If it's a joint account and it's anyone other than the spouse, it can be problematic because they could name a child on a joint account and that can override all the good work they've done on their estate plan because that account is going to that joint account owner and completely ignores anything in their trust or will.

14:27 - It doesn't hurt to have a family conversation. Sit down and speak to everyone. Let them know what your wishes are ahead of time so there aren't any surprises. It's difficult when you see after death, that there's a lot of hurt because things weren't discussed.

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