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Valuation & Appraisal Services for Estate Planning
Appraisals play an important role in your estate tax strategy.

Get Value Right When it Counts
An estate planning business valuation for privately-held businesses is essential when considering gifting, estate settlement, and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reporting of an estate or gift transaction. The goal of estate tax planning is to provide liquidity and continuity of the business. Throughout the process, it is essential to document the market value of the assets. While this is fairly straightforward for marketable or publicly traded securities, a thorough and well-documented analysis is required for illiquid or closely held assets.
The following are examples of the type of entities, interests, and situations where a business appraisal may be needed:
- Family limited partnership and limited liability companies, including entities holding real estate, marketable securities, or closely held common stock
- Gifting of closely-held stock and partnership/LLC interests
- Buy-sell and shareholder agreements
- Life insurance planning and funding
- Creation of non-voting stock for gifting purposes
Discounting
Family limited partnerships (FLPs), limited liability companies (LLCs), and other types of entities have been popular estate planning tools for years. Aside from the business purposes of such entities, such as centralized management and protection of assets from creditor claims, they also may offer tax advantages through valuation discounts. The most common discounts applied are for a Discount for Lack of Control (“DLOC”) and Discount for Lack of Marketability (“DLOM”). Because these discounts have such a large impact on overall valuation (often ranging from 20% to 40% of the overall value), a proper and well-documented valuation report is critical in order to bear scrutiny.
Our Work
Quantive works with estate planning attorneys, wealth advisors, CPA’s and other estate planning professionals in order to help achieve their client’s goals. Our valuations are guided by sound theory and appropriate precedent rulings such as IRS Revenue Ruling 59-60. In addition, our reports comply with the professional standards as promulgated by the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts (NACVA).
Get a thorough and accurate business valuation, tailored to your needs, in weeks—not months.
What Makes Us Different:
A Tailored Approach
Our process is focused on the belief that all valuation cases are different, and there is no “one-size-fits-all” rule for what factors we consider most important.
Efficient & Effective
We insist on running a tight valuation process to ensure a high-quality result. No surprise, but as a veteran-owned and operated company, we are also hugely geared towards discipline and efficiency.
15 Years of Experience
For most entrepreneurs, their company is their largest asset. For over 15 years, entrepreneurs have entrusted our expert consultation on a wide range of valuation and sell-side M&A matters.
Tight Turnarounds
Our goal is to complete every valuation in two weeks. We make every effort to get work back out to our clients as soon as possible so that our valuation is not standing in the way of your progress.
Our Process
We insist on running a tight valuation process to ensure a high-quality result. No surprise, but as a veteran-owned and operated company, we are also hugely geared towards discipline and efficiency.
While each assignment is different, the following are the steps you can usually expect when working with us:
Data Request
The actual request will certainly vary from case to case, but the core data request is usually somewhat similar. Ideally we want to see a five year period of data, with three years being the usual minimum.
Initital Analysis
Once we have data, our analyst team will conduct what we call a “first pass analysis.” We’ll start looking at trending in the data, looking for variances, unusual items, positive and negative trends, and financial ratios. We’ll likely send you a detail of questions that we will want to cover during the management interview related to the data provided.
Management Interview
To really understand the value of a company, we need to marry the narrative to the numbers. To get there, we’ll conduct an interview with the client to get an in-depth understanding of what drives the business.
Rinse & Repeat
Sometimes we get to this point and we are ready to push to the finish line. But in many (if not most) cases the management interview will uncover more questions and result in more requests. We iterate the first three steps until we have an adequate understanding of the company.
Analysis & Modeling
The appraiser will analyze the company's normalized financial statements, and use the most appropriate valuation method. To arrive at a final estimate of value, the appraiser will reconcile the values derived in each of the valuation methods and combine them with appropriate discounts.
Document Findings
When a final valuation conclusion has been reached and all relevant information has been considered, the valuation report is delivered to the client. We thoroughly explain the report to our clients and their advisers and answer any questions to ensure a thorough understanding of our conclusions.
Brief Out
For most of our assignments we’ll conduct a brief out with our client. (In some cases this isn’t appropriate or necessary – think a “date of death” report for probate) For the most part, though, we feel that the brief out is the most important element of the entire engagement.
Ready to Get Started?
Getting started is easy! Our straightforward pricing is a flat fee for most situations and is driven by the scope of work on a project. We’ll get in touch to understand your requirements, provide a quote, and get docs out to get the ball rolling.
What our Clients Say:
"When it came time to sell my business, I reached out to my network to find a firm to conduct a valuation. I was referred to Quantive by a colleague, and I was blown away by the seamlessness of the process. I definitely recommend the folks at Quantive.”
I.T. CompanyTransaction Valuation
“We engaged Quantive for a valuation for exit planning purposes. Our team was pleasantly surprised at how fast the process was. Our company was able to transition smoothly as a result. ”
Pest Control CompanyTransaction Valuation
“Thank you so much for the valuation. Your process was excellent, extremely efficient, and stress-free!”
Law FirmBuy-Sell Valuation
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