It seemed like a humorous story. A New York City street performer known as The Naked Cowboy was suing M&M Candies and Mars Incorporated as well as its advertising agency over a video billboard allegedly with an M&M character in The Naked Cowboy's outfit. But, it's not funny. There is a lot of money at stake.

We go into business with certain expectations  both as to what we expect to get out of it and at what cost. To sleep well at night, it is necessary to have your personal affairs in order including with perhaps a properly-structured family limited partnership or a multi-series family limited liability company. However, with your business assets, the first line of defense against any allegations of wrongdoing is insurance.

The IRS has a long-standing practice of listing on its website tax abusive strategies. They usually have catchy acronyms. Certainly if you have been involved in an investment, you probably do not expect to be caught in the IRS net of abusive tax strategies, but what if you are?

Limited Liability Companies ("LLC's") have grown to be darlings in the industry. They offer limited liability against creditors while at the same time avoiding the double taxation of C corporations. However, in 2003 in In re Albright,[1] the concept of single member LLC's was stung.

We live in a financially turbulent period. Hopefully, the economy will take an upward turn but that is unlikely before the beginning of 2009. Also, in 2010, the federal estate taxes are set to be repealed for one year. It certainly makes planning challenging. However, don't use this as an excuse to not move ahead with proper planning.