Estate Planning and Trust Accounts

[ultrarunner]

Yes… to all of the above.

I can sell to any partner willing to buy at the price we agree on.

I can also sell outside with majority partner approval.

Generally it has been lucrative transferring via exchange residential rentals as far back as the 90’s for commercial… no one calling at midnight about a toilet or no hot water, etc.

The major partners decided not another penny invested in California and to divest all California holdings… and that is how I now have tax reporting where required in 38 States… the guy that sweeps the main hospital entrance each morning as the homeless move on.

Tax Lawyer/CPA has most of the business but has gotten quite pricey the last few years.

At one time in the 80’s I did it all myself but that was 40 years ago.

Hundreds of pages just to file boggles the mind especially when the cost to file exceeds taxes or refunds due and the more complex with a greater pool of entities increases the likelyhood of errors because even being right comes with a cost to defend.

 

[2manyrocks]

Is there a way to piggyback with the other partners insofar as tax return compliance is concerned? It wouldn't seem very efficient for each partner to have to find their own tax professionals to deal with returns in 38 states.

 

[ultrarunner]

Good question...

I'm about as small as can be... most of the partners are net worth hundreds of millions of dollars... and even higher.

My brother was senior vice president for many years and wanted to consolidate our joint holdings early on and was able to 1031 our joint properties into development projects under his oversight.

He credits me dragging him into the field back when he was a struggling college student...

The major partners use or have big 8 names for their holdings.

Should we do the same I asked and he said I couldn't afford 10k minimum or $900 hour consults...

First project was public storage and then Department of Energy research facility followed by everything from hotels, shopping centers to amusement parks...

The one rule was no residential rentals of any kind held.

Starting in California and then expanding to Washington was easy because I file California and Washington has no personal income tax filing...

 

[California]

a partnership I'm in liquidated all California holdings and exchanged funds into property in 38 states...

This is an accounting nightmare... I'm just a working stiff... with tax returns of hundreds of pages filing income tax in states I have never set foot in.

If that were me I would sell right now.

Life is too short to be pulling your hair out forever trying to maximize the last dollar of income.

If you lose a little on the sale then just consider that the cost of buying your sanity back.


This was the advice I got from an excellent estate attorney who helped me through negotiations with Sis on the disputed price to buy out her half of this inherited orchard. Best advice I've ever received from anyone. I paid Sis what her expensive attorney's appraiser said, not the average of two local appraisers (paid from estate funds) as Dad had instructed to us to do. Per the estate-paid estate attorney I was working with, this averted a lifetime of gutwrenching endless family war.

This experienced attorney had seen it all, in her career, and knew that money isn't as important as settling uncertainty that can be argued for the rest of your life, in closing an estate.

Sounds to me that similar advice is relevant, for getting beyond the suffering from those incompetent tax preparers figuring all those tax returns every year for that 38 state mess.

 

[ultrarunner]

Good advice... I'm in 38 states but only 9 require me to file.

Spoke to my brother just now and he said the plan is to consolidate and perhaps go public and if that happens my ownership would become shares of stock in a publicly held entity... just a line to add to my California return.

Your other point is spot on... I would like to buy mom's home from estate and brothers would like to sell... my opinion of value and thiers does not yet align...

They are both licensed Real Estate and said without listing it everyone is guessing... one brother has had some crazy overbids the last couple of years... like listing based on comps for 650k and final sales price 850k.

 

[2manyrocks]

If it took someone a day to prepare each state return, filing in 9 might yet be manageable, but 38....