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Read & Download the Whitepaper. Click Here.
A business partnership may be built on trust, but what happens when that trust is tested by death, disability, divorce, bankruptcy, retirement, or a falling-out?
A sophisticated buy-sell agreement can provide a clear framework for navigating these unexpected events, helping establish who buys, who sells, when an ownership transfer occurs, how the interest is valued, and how the purchase is funded.
In “Beyond the Handshake,” Steven Oh and Steven Hilton examine why wills, trusts, and basic business formation documents may not be enough to protect a closely held business and its owners. The authors explore common succession-planning pitfalls and the potential consequences involving ownership, valuation, liquidity, funding, and taxes.
The whitepaper also examines important tax considerations, including the transfer-for-value rule, company-paid life insurance premiums, and the estate-tax implications of the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Connelly v. United States.
For business owners and their advisors, the message is clear: a handshake may establish a partnership, but it may not protect it when circumstances change.
Read the Whitepaper
Discover the four critical elements of a properly structured buy-sell agreement, and the tax and succession-planning considerations that should not be overlooked.
Read & Download the Whitepaper. Click Here.

About Brown and Streza
Brown and Streza LLP is a law firm providing integrated legal services in tax, estate, trust, real estate, business, business succession planning, and charitable planning, including representing non-profits and religious organizations. Located in Orange County, California, we serve families, businesses, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and charitable organizations, focusing on helping closely-held businesses and their owners achieve their goals. For more information, please visit our website.
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The need for fact-based reporting of issues important to family offices and hardworking families and protecting a lifetime of savings has never been greater. Now more than ever, family offices and hardworking families are under fire. That’s why Family Enterprise USA Action is passionately working to increase the awareness of issues important to family offices and hardworking families, while continuing to strengthen our presence on Capitol Hill.
Family Enterprise USA Action engages with legislators on Capitol Hill on behalf of family offices, hardworking families, and family-owned businesses. It is focused exclusively on the critical tax and economic policies that impact them. Since 1995, FEUSA Action has been the leading advocacy group working daily in Washington, D.C., to reduce and eliminate estate tax, gift tax, and generation skipping transfer tax while blocking increased income and capital gains taxes, the creation of a wealth tax, and other hostile policies that punish hardworking taxpayers and success in the U.S. It is a bipartisan 501.c4 organization.

