Maria and Marco have built a successful family construction business worth $30 million. They have 2 children, Xavier (age 10) and Alejandra (age 6). They recently attended an estate planning seminar and were concerned to find out that if they both died they would owe estate tax shortly after the death of the second spouse. They do not know what role their children will play in the future of the business but they do not want them to be forced to sell the business. They would like to begin to gift some of their business interests to their children now to reduce the size of their estate. They are not sure when they will be willing to turn over control of the business to the children, if ever. How much money would they be able to transfer per year using this approach? Assuming the value of the business increases by 5% per year and they continue this approach until Alejandra reaches age 30, how much would the children's assets be at that point?

Who will control the business under this approach?

Who will control the children's assets under this transfer approach?