If your wealth is tied up in a Space Coast business, aerospace or defense company equity, or stock in a growing technology firm, a Melbourne high net worth estate planning lawyer helps you transfer it with intention rather than by default. We work with business owners, executives, and founders across Brevard County on the advanced strategies a simple will cannot address. For most of our clients, the business is the estate, and planning around it is everything.
Call our Melbourne office at 321-415-0681 to schedule a confidential consultation.
How Do You Pass a Business to the Next Generation?
Business succession planning decides what happens to your company when you retire, become incapacitated, or pass away. Without a plan, a valuable business can lose value quickly or spark disputes among heirs and partners.
A strong succession plan can transfer ownership gradually, minimize transfer taxes through valuation strategies and gifting, and keep the business running through the transition. For Space Coast founders whose company is the largest asset in the estate, this is usually the most important planning they will do.
We design succession around your specific business, family, and goals.
| Succession Tool | What It Does |
| Buy-sell agreement | Sets terms for transferring ownership among partners or heirs |
| Family limited partnership (FLP) | Consolidates management and supports valuation planning |
| Grantor trust | Moves business growth out of the taxable estate |
| Gifting program | Transfers ownership gradually using annual and lifetime exemptions |
Do You Still Need Advanced Planning With the Higher Exemption?
Yes. As of January 1, 2026, the federal estate and gift tax exemption is $15 million per person, or $30 million for a married couple, made permanent under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Estates above those amounts are still taxed at a top federal rate of 40 percent.
A successful business can push an estate over the threshold faster than owners expect, especially when a company or its equity appreciates. The current estate and gift tax thresholds are adjusted over time, so a plan built around today’s numbers needs periodic review. We build plans that account for long-term growth so a rising valuation does not create a surprise tax bill.
Why Is Florida Advantageous for Business Owners?
Florida imposes no state estate tax, no inheritance tax, and no state income tax, which makes it one of the best states in the country for preserving business wealth. For founders and executives, that changes the math considerably.
Florida also offers strong asset protection, including protections for certain trusts and business structures set out in the Florida Statutes. Capturing these advantages requires proper structuring, which we handle as part of the plan.
What Advanced Strategies Do High Net Worth Plans Use?
High net worth planning goes far beyond a will. It coordinates tax planning, asset protection, and business succession into a single structure.
Strategies we implement include:
- Revocable living trusts to avoid probate and maintain privacy
- Irrevocable trusts to remove appreciating equity from the taxable estate
- Grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs) and other advanced gifting vehicles
- Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs) to fund estate liquidity
- Family limited partnerships and LLCs for management and valuation planning
- Charitable trusts that combine giving with tax efficiency
For founders holding qualified small business stock, coordinating the estate plan with the tax treatment of that equity can add significant value. We design the structure around your specific holdings.
Call 321-415-0681 or contact us online to discuss your estate and business planning goals.
Do Not Overlook Portability
Portability lets a surviving spouse use the deceased spouse’s unused federal exemption, preserving up to $30 million in combined shelter. It is one of the most valuable and most frequently missed opportunities in estate planning.
The catch is that portability is not automatic. The executor must file a federal estate tax return (Form 706) within the required window after the first spouse’s death, even when no tax is owed. Missing that filing can forfeit millions in future shelter, and we make sure it is handled.
Who Handles High Net Worth Estate Planning at Our Melbourne Office
Karen Harkness Houser
Karen Harkness Houser is an estate planning attorney at Bogin Munns & Munns who practices out of our Melbourne office. She holds an LL.M. in Taxation from the College of William and Mary, an advanced tax law degree that is directly relevant to estate and wealth transfer planning, and earned her Juris Doctor with honors from St. Thomas University School of Law.
Her practice spans estate planning, trusts and probate, corporate law, and commercial and residential real estate, and she is a member of The Florida Bar Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section. Her business and transactional background includes entity formation, business contracts, joint ventures, and the purchase and sale of small businesses.
Our Melbourne office is at 7195 Murrell Rd, Suite 101. Consultations are confidential.
This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Estate and tax planning depend on individual circumstances and current law. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
Ready to Talk to a Melbourne High Net Worth Estate Planning Attorney?
For business owners and executives, the planning you do now determines whether your company passes to the next generation intact or gets eroded by taxes and disputes. These tools work best when put in place early and reviewed as the business grows.
We work with high net worth individuals and families across Brevard County from our Melbourne office at 7195 Murrell Rd, Suite 101.
Bogin Munns & Munns also handles probate, business law, real estate, and civil litigation, giving affluent clients coordinated counsel under one roof.
Call 321-415-0681 or contact our Melbourne office online to schedule a confidential consultation.
