Values-Based Wealth Planning

Creating values-driven, tax-efficient wealth transfer plans

Collaborating on a wealth plan rooted in your values

Our partnership starts with you. Through our collaborative process, we work with you, your family, and your advisors to identify your values, priorities, and mission. Then, alongside your legal and tax advisors, we design and implement a wealth and estate plan that reflects your personal goals and values.

 

The future is unknowable. As wealth transitions through generations or to charity, and as legal and tax rules change, we ensure your plan remains resilient and durable. We then help you with one of the hardest parts of estate planning: deciding if, when, how, and to what extent to communicate your plans to those you love. We know how personal these decisions can be – count on us to help you each step of the way.

Second Annual Private Business Owner Survey

Our survey reveals how private business owners are addressing current technology trends, future succession planning, and family communication dynamics. Explore the results.
Read More

How Business Owners Can Maximize the Gift Tax Exemption in 2025

In anticipation of the sunset of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act exemption amounts, BBH Senior Wealth Planner Stacia Kroetz reviews how business owners can make the most of the currently high exemptions while they are still available.
Read More

You deserve more from your wealth advisors than simply tax and estate planning advice. We collaborate with you and your family to ensure your plan reflects your goals and values. We are personally invested in helping your family thrive across generations.
– Anne Warren Managing Director and Senior Wealth Planner

What We Believe: Principles of Successful Wealth Planning

Adrienne Penta, the executive director of the BBH Center for Women & Wealth, and Alison Hutchinson, a senior wealth planner, focus on the topic of families, wealth and communication, discussing the guiding principles that we believe help families create life-affirming, enduring, effective wealth plans.
Read More

How We Can Help

After a series of significant liquidity events, a couple was seeking assistance regarding when and how to communicate with college-age children about their newly realized wealth. The couple asked for guidance on how much and when to transfer wealth to children, as well as help discussing philanthropic aspirations.

BBH took a step back and began with an in-depth discussion with the couple in order to understand better the family’s history and values, hopes and dreams for the role of wealth in their lives. Next, we facilitated a broader discussion exploring long-held beliefs, family tension, expectations and opportunities for greater connectivity. Finally, we worked with the family’s estate planning attorney and accountant in order to help ensure the final wealth succession plan reflected the family history, values and goals and would enrich rather than burden the children.

A business owner approached BBH when she made the decision to sell her company. Initially, she wanted help determining the value of the business and hiring an investment banker, but after we reviewed the tax implications of the sale and her goals for her family and future business endeavors, she asked to learn more about pre-sale tax planning options.

Using the business owner’s goals and values as a backdrop, we outlined and discussed each of the mechanisms that might make sense for her situation. We then coordinated with her accountant and trusts and estates attorney to craft a tax-efficient plan that was designed to accomplish her objectives related to her family and philanthropy. She transferred an interest in the business to a trust for the benefit of her descendants and another piece of the business to a donor-advised fund prior to the sale. These structures allowed her to maximize the benefit for her family and charity while simultaneously minimizing both the capital gains tax consequences of the sale and the transfer tax consequences of the gift to her family.  

A third-generation family-owned manufacturing business decided to sell a large interest in the business to a nonfamily member. The California-based family realized that the way they managed the business following the partial sale would have to change, and the family needed guidance on how to make the transition. The family would become less involved in the business’s day-to-day management, and there would be less transparency about performance and strategy.

BBH conducted a detailed review of the many trusts that owned an interest in the business and learned that the trustee wanted to be replaced. The trustee, a beloved uncle, did not know the new management team and thought that a professional trustee would be a better fit to exercise the family trusts’ rights in the business following the sale. BBH Trust Company of Delaware became trustee, and the trusts’ law and tax residence was immediately changed to Delaware. The shift to Delaware provided several advantages to the trust beneficiaries, such as enhanced asset protection, and nearly eliminated all California state income tax on the trusts. BBH Trust Company worked in-depth with each trust beneficiary to establish a new budget and estate plan to account for the significant increase in family wealth as a result of the transaction.

Since the sale many years ago, BBH hosts biannual family shareholder meetings where the family can engage management regarding the performance and strategy surrounding the business. We conduct interviews with each family member prior to the meeting to understand each family shareholder’s questions and to anonymize sensitive topics. BBH also helps management prepare for these family shareholder meetings so that the family will feel that their questions and concerns are being addressed.

Let us help you and your family build a plan designed to achieve your objectives. Email us at Planning@bbh.com.

Our Latest Insights

  • How Business Owners Can Maximize the Gift Tax Exemption in 2025

  • Second Annual Private Business Owner Survey

  • ""

    Effective Nonprofit Board Governance in Tumultuous Times

  • Healthcare, insurance and wooden blocks in studio on an empty gray background for safety or security. Abstract, medicine and health with block toys in a hospital or clinic for medical care

    Helping Family in Crisis

  • ""

    Eight Steps to Get Your Estate Plan in Order

  • Family tax benefit, inherit tax, property or estate and household tax concept : Tax bag, family with kids living in a residential facility, a dollar bag, a car, a first aid kit are atop coin stacks.

    Revocable Trusts: What They Are, and Why Signing One Isn't the End of the Story

  • ""

    A Guide to Talking to Your Children About Money: College and Emerging Adults

  • ""

    Investing for Good: Aligning Your Investments and Your Philanthropy

  • ""

    What Endowments & Foundations Should Know About Spending Rates

  • ""

    Before You Sell the Family Business: Valuable Estate Planning Strategies

  • ""

    Strategic Estate Planning: Intra-Family Loans

  • ""

    Wealth Planning Through Volatility

Contact Us

1 Source: Williams, Roy O., and Vic Preisser. Preparing Heirs: Five Steps to a Successful Transition of Family Wealth and Values.

This communication is for informational purposes only. The information herein has not been based on a consideration of any individual investor’s circumstances and is not investment advice, nor should it be construed in any way as tax, accounting, legal or regulatory advice. Individuals should consult their personal tax, accounting and legal advisers regarding any potential investment or strategy. Any views and opinions are subject to change at any time.

This material does not constitute an offer or solicitation in any jurisdiction where or to any person to whom it would be unauthorized to do so.

Investment Advisory Products and Services:

NOT FDIC INSURED   NO BANK GUARANTEE    MAY LOSE VALUE

As of June 15, 2022 Internet Explorer 11 is not supported by BBH.com.

Important Information for Non-U.S. Residents

You are required to read the following important information, which, in conjunction with the Terms and Conditions, governs your use of this website. Your use of this website and its contents constitute your acceptance of this information and those Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree with this information and the Terms and Conditions, you should immediately cease use of this website. The contents of this website have not been prepared for the benefit of investors outside of the United States. This website is not intended as a solicitation of the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument or any investment management services for any investor who resides in a jurisdiction other than the United States1. As a general matter, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. and its subsidiaries (“BBH”) is not licensed or registered to solicit prospective investors and offer investment advisory services in jurisdictions outside of the United States. The information on this website is not intended to be distributed to, directed at or used by any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or use would be contrary to law or regulation. Persons in respect of whom such prohibitions apply must not access the website.  Under certain circumstances, BBH may provide services to investors located outside of the United States in accordance with applicable law. The conditions under which such services may be provided will be analyzed on a case-by-case basis by BBH. BBH will only accept investors from such jurisdictions or countries where it has made a determination that such an arrangement or relationship is permissible under the laws of that jurisdiction or country. The existence of this website is not intended to be a substitute for the type of analysis described above and is not intended as a solicitation of or recommendation to any prospective investor, including those located outside of the United States. Certain BBH products or services may not be available in certain jurisdictions. By choosing to access this website from any location other than the United States, you accept full responsibility for compliance with all local laws. The website contains content that has been obtained from sources that BBH believes to be reliable as of the date presented; however, BBH cannot guarantee the accuracy of such content, assure its completeness, or warrant that such information will not be changed. The content contained herein is current as of the date of issuance and is subject to change without notice. The website’s content does not constitute investment advice and should not be used as the basis for any investment decision. There is no guarantee that any investment objectives, expectations, targets described in this website or the  performance or profitability of any investment will be achieved. You understand that investing in securities and other financial instruments involves risks that may affect the value of the securities and may result in losses, including the potential loss of the principal invested, and you assume and are able to bear all such risks.  In no event shall BBH or any other affiliated party be liable for any direct, incidental, special, consequential, indirect, lost profits, loss of business or data, or punitive damages arising out of your use of this website. By clicking accept, you confirm that you accept  to the above Important Information along with Terms and Conditions.

 
1BBH sponsors UCITS Funds registered in Luxembourg, in certain jurisdictions. For information on those funds, please see bbhluxembourgfunds.com



captcha image ↻

Type in the word seen on the picture

I am a current investor in another jurisdiction

1 of 2

2 of 2