Assignment 8 - Summative Estate Plan (PO5, CO2, CO4) Include references and the State is Dothan

Every entrepreneur should have an action plan for the disposition of their business in the event of an unforeseen tragedy. Your business may grow in market value long before it shows a positive cash flow. There are many types of possible estate planning mechanisms which can be used by the startup entrepreneur to allow for the disposition of their estate, including their business assets, in the event of their untimely death. Estate plans can be changed as the situation changes or as the business becomes more profitable and beneficiary designations need to be adjusted.

For this assignment, you first make a checklist of all of the marketable assets of your business. This is the list that you would use to decide the disposition of assets if you were making an estate plan or will. Do not include your intended beneficiaries for each of the assets in your assignment. Rather, after each asset, include your best estimate of its market value and the method you used to determine that market value (recall our lesson of business asset valuation).

Next, review your states intestacy statutes which will decide the disposition of these assets should you die without a will or estate plan (intestate). Include the designated beneficiary in your checklist (i.e. parents, spouse, children, etc. - do not give specific names of the beneficiary) that would receive each asset listed if you were to die intestate.

Finally, list the state statute that specifically controls the disposition of each asset. Please note that statutes often contain subparagraphs which you must include in your citation. For example, State X statute 200(A)(1)(a) may control the disposition of personal property while 200(A)(2)(a) controls the distribution of financial assets. The specific state statute should be included that controls the distribution of each asset in your checklist.

Finally, analyze the benefits of having a written estate plan even for startup entrepreneurs with only minimal assets.