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Estate Planning

Family Limited Partnership (FLP) Agreement

Drafting Family Limited Partnership agreements manually requires hours of careful attention to complex ownership structures, transfer restrictions, and tax implications. Estate planning attorneys must balance multiple family member interests while ensuring compliance with partnership law and estate tax regulations, often requiring extensive revisions and client consultations.

Automation ROI

Time savings at a glance

Manual workflow8.5 hoursAverage time your team spends by hand
With CaseMark12 minutesDelivery time with CaseMark automation
EfficiencySave 22.5x time with CaseMark

The Problem

Drafting comprehensive Family Limited Partnership agreements requires extensive knowledge of estate tax law, partnership regulations, and IRS scrutiny standards under IRC Section 2036. Attorneys spend 8-10 hours researching valuation discount requirements, transfer restrictions, fiduciary provisions, and economic substance documentation while ensuring every clause withstands potential IRS challenges. Manual drafting risks omitting critical provisions that could invalidate estate planning benefits or expose clients to tax deficiencies.

The CaseMark Solution

CaseMark's AI analyzes your client documents and generates complete, IRS-defensible FLP agreements in minutes. The system automatically incorporates client-specific asset descriptions, family relationships, and valuations while ensuring compliance with IRC Section 2036, Treasury Regulations, and state partnership law. Every agreement includes comprehensive transfer restrictions, proper capital account maintenance, legitimate business purpose provisions, and economic substance documentation that supports valuation discounts.

Key benefits

How CaseMark automations transform your workflow

Reduce drafting time from 4+ hours to under 15 minutes

Ensure all essential FLP provisions are included with intelligent prompts

Customize ownership structures, management rights, and transfer restrictions

Maintain consistency across capital contributions and distribution policies

Generate professional, client-ready partnership agreements instantly

What you'll receive

Formation and Purpose
Capital Contributions and Ownership Structure
Management and Control Provisions
General Partner Authority
Limited Partner Rights and Restrictions
Transfer Restrictions and Right of First Refusal
Distribution Policies
Dissolution Events and Procedures
Liquidation Terms
Signature Blocks

Document requirements

Required

  • Client and Family Information
  • Asset Descriptions and Valuations

Optional

  • Qualified Appraisal Reports
  • Property Deeds and Legal Descriptions
  • Existing Estate Planning Documents
  • Trust Agreements
  • Encumbrance Documentation

Perfect for

Estate planning attorneys serving high-net-worth families
Transactional attorneys specializing in wealth transfer strategies
Tax attorneys implementing sophisticated estate planning structures
Trust and estate practitioners managing multi-generational wealth
Solo practitioners handling complex family partnership formations
Boutique law firms focused on estate and business succession planning

Also useful for

This workflow is applicable across multiple practice areas and use cases

FLPs are partnership entities that require formal formation documents similar to other business entities, often used as part of business succession planning for family-owned enterprises.

Corporate formation attorneys regularly draft partnership agreements and entity formation documents. FLPs share structural similarities with other limited partnerships and require the same foundational formation provisions.

FLP agreements establish governance structures, management rights, voting provisions, and control mechanisms for family-owned entities that parallel corporate governance frameworks.

The management provisions, partner rights, transfer restrictions, and control structures in FLPs are governance issues that corporate governance attorneys regularly address in closely-held entities.

FLPs are often used in business succession transactions and family business transfers, requiring M&A attorneys to structure ownership transitions and valuation discounts.

M&A attorneys handling family business successions and generational transfers use FLPs as vehicles for transferring business interests while maintaining control and achieving tax-efficient valuations.

FLP interests may constitute securities under federal and state law, requiring compliance with securities regulations and exemptions when transferring partnership interests.

Securities attorneys must ensure FLP formations and transfers comply with securities laws, particularly regarding private placement exemptions and transfer restrictions that affect securities compliance.

Frequently asked questions

Q

How does the AI ensure my FLP agreement will withstand IRS scrutiny under Section 2036?

A

CaseMark incorporates all critical elements the IRS examines when challenging FLP valuations: legitimate business purpose beyond tax avoidance, economic substance through actual asset transfers and ongoing operations, bona fide transfer restrictions, and proper documentation of non-tax objectives like asset consolidation and family wealth preservation. The system automatically includes provisions demonstrating retained enjoyment limitations, arm's-length transactions, and sufficient business formalities that courts have upheld in successful FLP cases.

Q

Can the AI incorporate my client's specific assets and family structure into the agreement?

A

Yes, CaseMark searches all uploaded documents for client names, family relationships, asset descriptions, appraisal values, property legal descriptions, and existing trust information. Instead of generic placeholders, your agreement will include actual property addresses, specific securities holdings, qualified appraisal values, and correct family member roles as general or limited partners. This creates a transaction-specific document that demonstrates real economic substance rather than a template-based structure.

Q

What valuation discount provisions are included to maximize estate tax benefits?

A

The agreement includes comprehensive transfer restrictions requiring general partner consent for all transfers, right of first refusal provisions, limited partner lack of control over management and distributions, restrictions on transfers to non-family members, and charging order protection against creditors. These provisions support both lack of control discounts (typically 20-30%) and lack of marketability discounts (typically 30-40%) that reduce the taxable value of gifted partnership interests. The system also includes proper valuation methodology clauses and appraisal procedures that meet IRS substantiation requirements.

Q

Does the agreement address the partnership representative requirements under current tax law?

A

Yes, CaseMark incorporates the centralized partnership audit regime enacted by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, designating a partnership representative with authority to bind the partnership in IRS examinations and administrative proceedings. The agreement includes all required provisions for the partnership representative's powers, limitations, and obligations, ensuring compliance with current partnership tax audit procedures rather than outdated tax matters partner provisions.

Q

How does the AI handle state-specific partnership law requirements?

A

The system drafts agreements compliant with the Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act adopted by most states, while allowing customization for your specific jurisdiction's requirements. It includes proper formation provisions, registered agent designation, fiduciary duty frameworks that can be modified as permitted by state law, and dissolution procedures consistent with modern partnership statutes. You can specify your state of formation and the AI will incorporate jurisdiction-specific requirements for certificate filing, amendment procedures, and statutory compliance.

Q

What supporting documentation does the system recommend to demonstrate economic substance?

A

CaseMark provides guidance on essential ancillary documents including qualified appraisals meeting IRS requirements, gift tax returns with complete disclosure, evidence of actual asset transfers like recorded deeds and stock assignments, partnership bank accounts and EIN documentation, and ongoing operational evidence like annual financial statements and meeting minutes. The system identifies gaps in your uploaded documents and specifies what additional documentation you should obtain to create a defensible administrative record demonstrating legitimate business purpose beyond tax avoidance.