family limited partnership

family limited partnership (FLP)

A special type of limited partnership recognized by some states as an estate planning tool. A donor establishes a family limited partnership and then transfers into it property expected to appreciate in value over the years. The donor then makes gifts of small percentages of the partnership to children or other family members. The gifts are small enough to escape gift taxes and may be doubled if the donor makes the first gift to the spouse, and then each of them makes gifts each year.As the property grows in value,the appreciation belongs to the person receiving the gifted shares and so is not in the donor's estate at death.