Estate Planning and Business Succession: What Every Business Owner Needs To Do Now - Brian Balduzzi

Why estate planning and business succession fail most often has nothing to do with legal documents. It comes down to communication, valuation, and timing.

In this episode of Behind The Numbers With Dave Bookbinder, we explore the intersection of estate planning, business succession, and valuation with private client attorney Brian Balduzzi.

Brian explains why estate planning is not just for the ultra-wealthy. Every business owner needs core documents in place to protect their family and business: wills, medical and financial powers of attorney, and a plan for what happens to their company.

We dig into:

• How business valuation fits into estate and succession planning

• When to assemble the right advisor team and who should be at the table

• The dangers of ignoring valuation for illiquid assets

• Why failing to communicate plans derails succession efforts

• How gifting strategies, charitable giving, and legacy intentions shape outcomes

Brian also touches on the emotional and human aspects of planning: chosen family considerations, stewardship of wealth, and why planning during life often creates better results than leaving everything to be sorted out later.

If you're a business owner, this conversation offers practical steps to start protecting your company and your family today.

#EstatePlanning #ProtectYourAssets #FuturePlanning #TaxStrategy #BusinessValuation #FamilyWealth #LifeGoals #LegacyPlanning

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About Our Guest:

Brian M. Balduzzi, Esq., Tax LL.M., MBA, CFP®, CEPA®, AEP®, IPA (he/him) is an attorney in the Private Client Group at Faegre Drinker in its Philadelphia, Princeton, and New York offices. Brian specializes in sophisticated estate and wealth transfer planning, helping families prepare for transitions, exits and succession. He also advises clients on estate and gift tax exemption strategies, charitable planning, prenuptial planning, estate and trust administration, and fiduciary litigation.

Brian is a tax, business law, estate planning, accounting and finance adjunct professor. His scholarship has been featured in multiple regional and national trusts and estates and legal publications. In 2019, Brian was one of four Trusts and Estates attorneys selected as an ABA Real Property Trusts & Estate (ABA RPTE) Fellow, and, in 2021, as an American College of Trust and Estate Counsel Young Leader Fellow. For the ABA RPTE Section, he serves as the Chair of the IRA Plans & Distributions Committee, Chair of the Financial Planning and Risk Management Committee, Vice Chair of the DEI Committee, Member of the Trust and Estate Books Editorial Board and Council Member.

Brian is also an active member of the Philadelphia Estate Planning Council on multiple committees and speaker as part of their Roundtable program. He has previously been honored as a Pennsylvania City and State Forty Under 40, Al DIA 40 Under Forty, Rainbow Revolutionary Distinguished Alumni, Philadelphia KEEPER, American Bar Association Top Forty Lawyers – On the Rise, and Boston University School of Law Young Alumni Chair Awardee. Brian holds his JD/Tax LL.M. from Boston University School of Law and his MBA with a Minor in Real Estate from Cornell University. He is licensed to practice law in PA, NJ, NY, FL, and MA, and he is in the process of waiving into the South Dakota bar.

 Links:

• Brian M. Balduzzi | Professionals | Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
• Estate Planning Lessons From the Oracle of Omaha | Law.com
• Planning Suggestions for the Impact of OBBBA on Estate and Tax Planning | Publications | Insights | Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
• Sales of Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS), ‘Stacking’ and Other Structures for Advanced Estate Planning | Publications | Insights | Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP 

   

   

About the Host:

Dave Bookbinder is known as an expert in business valuation and he is the person that business owners and entrepreneurs reach out to when they need to know what their most important assets are worth. Known as a collaborative adviser, Dave has served thousands o