Trust & Estate Planning for Founders
Protect appreciating assets. Preserve privacy. Create certainty for your family.
Why This Matters
Successful founders and investors often delay trust and estate planning not out of neglect, but because it feels fragmented and difficult to execute.
- Legal advice lives in one place.
- Investment assets live in another.
- Passwords, entities, and access live nowhere.
- Meanwhile, assets continue to appreciate.
Once that appreciation occurs, many planning opportunities are permanently lost. Estate taxes increase. Privacy risks rise. And family outcomes become less predictable.
Lumida Wealth helps clients address trust and estate planning before urgency forces bad decisions.
The Cost of Waiting
Many clients come to us holding:
- Founder or pre-liquidity equity
- Private company shares
- Concentrated public stock
- Digital assets and alternative investments
These assets can grow rapidly. Without an irrevocable trust in place, future appreciation remains fully exposed to estate taxes.
Once value increases, the window to move assets efficiently closes. The decision to wait quietly compounds risk.
Case Example: Acting at Formation
A founder approached Lumida shortly after forming a startup and filing an 83(b) election — a standard step taken at the outset of nearly every venture-backed company.
At the time:
☑️ The founder’s shares were recently issued
☑️ The company’s valuation was nominal
☑️ The tax cost of transferring shares was minimal
We coordinated with the founder’s estate attorney to:
☑️ Establish an irrevocable trust
☑️ Transfer the founder’s equity into the trust immediately after the 83(b) filing
☑️ Lock in the low valuation for estate planning purposes
Had the founder waited:
☑️Early traction would have increased the company’s value
☑️The transfer would have exhausted the founder’s entire lifetime estate and gift tax exemption
☑️ Future appreciation would have remained fully exposed to estate taxes.
By acting early, all subsequent growth occurred outside the founder’s taxable estate.
Case Example: Pre-IPO, Narrow Window
Another client came to Lumida as a late-stage, pre-IPO founder.
The company had:
☑️ Strong revenue growth
☑️ Institutional investors
☑️ Clear momentum toward a liquidity event
The founder still held a meaningful equity stake — but valuation had already increased substantially.
At this stage:
☑️ A full transfer of shares would have exceeded lifetime exemption limits
☑️ Waiting until IPO would have eliminated most planning flexibility
☑️ Public scrutiny and lockups would have further complicated execution
We worked with the founder’s legal and tax advisors to:
☑️ Transfer a portion of shares into an irrevocable trust at the last viable valuation
☑️ Preserve remaining exemption capacity
☑️ Ensure future appreciation on the transferred shares occurred outside the estate
☑️ Coordinate the structure with expected IPO timing and liquidity constraints
The outcome was not perfection — it was damage control done early enough to matter.
Waiting another round or two would have closed the door entirely.
What a Proper Trust Structure Achieves
A thoughtfully implemented trust is not about complexity. It is about foresight.
When structured correctly, it can:
- Remove future appreciation from your taxable estate
- Protect assets from lawsuits and creditor claims
- Establish clear governance and distribution rules
- Avoid a public probate process
- Provide continuity across generations
The result is not just tax efficiency, it is clarity and control.
Privacy and Probate Avoidance
Assets that pass through probate become part of the public record.
That process can expose:
- Asset values
- Ownership structures
- Beneficiaries
- Timing of distributions
For families with meaningful wealth, this loss of privacy is unnecessary and avoidable.
Proper trust structures keep estates private, reduce delays, and allow transfers to occur according to your wishes — not court timelines.
Where Most Estate Plans Break Down
Even well-drafted estate plans often fail operationally.
Common issues include:
- Assets spread across institutions
- Incomplete documentation
- Unclear ownership and access
- Spouses or heirs lacking visibility
In moments of stress, families are forced to piece together information that should have been clear from the start.
The Lumida Vault: An Integrated View
Lumida provides clients with a secure, integrated family vault designed to solve this problem.
The vault:
☑️ Centralizes accounts, entities, and trust structures
☑️ Documents access, ownership, and instructions
☑️ Provides context, not just files
☑️ Enables a spouse or family member to step in confidently
This creates peace of mind during life and stability when it matters most.
How Lumida Works
Lumida Wealth is an SEC-registered investment advisor.
We coordinate trust and estate planning as part of a broader wealth strategy by:
Identifying when structures are time-sensitive
Working alongside elite estate attorneys and tax professionals
Ensuring trusts align with investment holdings and liquidity events
Managing execution so plans do not stall
Maintaining a living, integrated view over time
We are not replacing your estate attorney. We work closely with them or can refer an attorney to ensure the plan is actually implemented and maintained.
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Alignment and Perspective
Lumida’s CEO invests personal capital alongside clients and faces the same planning decisions.
We approach trust and estate work with the same discipline applied to capital allocation: thoughtful, coordinated, and long-term.
Who This Is Designed For
Our trust and estate services are designed for:
Early-stage founders (formation through Series A)
Pre-IPO and late-stage founders
Investors with concentrated or appreciating assets
Families with complex structures or cross-asset exposure
This service is not intended for basic or template-based estate planning.
The Goal
The goal is not aggressive tax schemes or unnecessary complexity.
The goal is:
- Protection
- Privacy
- Coordination
- Peace of mind
A well-designed estate plan should reduce uncertainty — not create it.
Next Step
Trust and estate planning decisions are highly time-sensitive.
Lumida offers a confidential assessment to help determine:
☑️ Whether an irrevocable trust is appropriate now
☑️ Which assets can still be addressed
☑️ How to coordinate legal, tax, and investment decisions
☑️ How to establish an integrated family vault
A confidential starting point for founders and investors considering trust and estate planning.
Disclaimer
Important Information
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Lumida Wealth Management, LLC is a registered investment advisor. More information about the firm can be found in its Form ADV on file with the SEC.