IRS attorney Cathy Hughes created waves at the American Bar Association’s Section of Taxation meeting in May when she signaled the Service’s intent to release new proposed regulations under IRC §2704(b)(4) by mid-September. The proposed regulations would likely include new “disregarded restrictions” built into family entity strategies that would, in turn, reduce or eliminate the use of valuation discounts in those entities.

Dividing assets after a divorce is rarely an easy, straightforward process. This is especially true when clients split up late in life. During marriage, asset ownership often becomes intertwined – or commingled – resulting in shared ownership of most of the couple’s property. If the marriage ends, untangling that property can be a real challenge.

Estate planning professionals who are working with divorcing couples or clients who are moving on to a second marriage have an important part to play in ensuring the fair and accurate division of assets. They can also provide great value to clients by helping them update their estate plans to protect them from unintended consequences, assuring their wishes will be honored when they die.

You’ve mapped out an ambitious, yet attainable plan for your business and know precisely where you want to be in the next year. Now the question is “What should I be doing this afternoon to get there?”

Actions, we know, speak louder than words. While it’s valuable, of course, to consider the big picture, when it comes to marketing our business and reaching our goals, the question we continually face is how to translate thoughtful planning into successful execution?  

Start by building back your plan. That means breaking down that one-year goal into bite-size chunks: quarterly goals, then monthly, weekly and daily goals. For example, if you’ve set a revenue goal of $300K for 2015, a reasonable quarterly goal would be $75K, or $6K per week (50 weeks/year). That could translate into the weekly goal of two clients per week, each with an average fee of $3K.  With your financial goal now broken down into immediate, intermediate and long-term goals, write out a work plan with activities to ensure you’re consistently moving forward and working toward that goal. Activities would include meeting one new advisor each week, adding a new entry to your blog each month, building two referral relationships each quarter, etc.