Andrew Ayers

Helping you put the right plan in place so your family isn’t left with a mess
Estate Planning & Business Attorney
NYC & MN
Attorney | Author

[Andrew Ayers @ayerslaw]

Before family money moves, decide what it is and write it down. Loan: note, rate, due date. Gift: no repayment, no ownership. Equity: operating agreement amendment with price, percentage, votes. A vague email isn’t a deal. It’s a dispute on a delay.

[Andrew Ayers @ayerslaw]

Her 50/50 partner promised to fund the business. The money never came. A year later, the company’s debt had gone from $15,000 to nearly $300,000. Revenue didn’t move.

[Andrew Ayers @ayerslaw]

When family bails out a business, asking for paperwork feels ungrateful. It isn’t. The paperwork is what keeps the rescue from turning into the next fight.

[Andrew Ayers @ayerslaw]

More than once, a client has shown me their contract and the jurisdiction clause says Texas.

They’re in New York. No connection to Texas. They downloaded a Texas form when they started and never looked.

That’s the real cost of a DIY contract.

[Andrew Ayers @ayerslaw]

In Minnesota, estate tax isn’t a private-jet problem. Thirty years of maxing out a 401(k) and owning a Twin Cities home can get you there.

[Andrew Ayers @ayerslaw]

A couple came to me with $6.5M, mostly 401(k)s and a paid-off house. The federal estate tax line is near $15M per person, so they figured they were safe. Then we looked at Minnesota.

[Andrew Ayers @ayerslaw]

Their wrinkle: a move to Florida in 4-5 years. So no rigid irrevocable trust they’d have to dismantle at the state line. Something simple that works now and doesn’t create a headache later.

[Andrew Ayers @ayerslaw]

#TestimonialTuesday

[Andrew Ayers @ayerslaw]

Most business disputes start with “I thought you were going to...”

A good contract kills that sentence before anyone says it. Scope, timelines, who does what, and what happens if it goes wrong.

[Andrew Ayers @ayerslaw]

The worst thing you can leave your family isn’t a complicated estate. It’s a scavenger hunt.

[Andrew Ayers @ayerslaw]

A client’s mother threw her late husband’s dividend checks in the trash for months. She thought they were junk mail. Nobody had told her the stock existed.

[Andrew Ayers @ayerslaw]

Three things: a list of where your assets live. Beneficiaries named, with current contact info. Legal authority for your family to actually access the records.

[Andrew Ayers @ayerslaw]

Minnesota’s estate tax starts at $3 million. Federal is $15 million.

Add up your paid-off house, 401(k)s, brokerage account, and life insurance. A lot of Minnesotans who’d never call themselves rich are already over the line.

[Andrew Ayers @ayerslaw]

4 common reasons to use an irrevocable trust in Minnesota: reduce estate tax (Minnesota taxes estates over $3M), plan for long-term care, hold life insurance, and protect a beneficiary with a supplemental needs or spendthrift trust.