Estate Tax Protection

Uncle Sam’s Cut

You work your entire life to save and have enough money to comfortably retire – and ideally leave something for your loved ones when you pass away. But do you need to worry about the estate tax?

During your life you pay all kinds of taxes: income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, and so on. And at the end, the government still wants to tax you on the assets you have left at your death.

This is known as the estate tax, sometimes called the “inheritance tax” or “death tax.”

The best way to protect your assets and your family’s future from excessive taxation is to hire an attorney who specializes in estate tax planning. We can help you reduce – if not entirely avoid – the federal estate tax burden.

How Does the Estate Tax Work?

Estate tax is totally separate from federal income tax, property tax, sales tax, and every other type of tax you’ve paid during your lifetime.

Estate tax is a tax paid on the net value of all your assets owned at your death.

However, there are fairly sizable exemptions to the estate tax so it is primarily a high net-worth individual or family who is affected.

This said, the estate tax rate is a whopping 40-50% on your net estate depending on the current law, so if you do have an estate tax problem, we are talking about potentially massive sums of money your estate will owe to the government before a single heir would enjoy a single penny.

Does the Estate Tax Apply to You?

President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 nearly doubled the allowable exemptions to the estate tax that existed prior to 2017. This ensured that even fewer families would be affected. However, President Biden has promised a significant change.

The estate tax exemption for individuals increased from $5.4 million to $11.2 million ($13.61m as of 2024), and the estate tax exemption for married couples increased from $10.9 million to $22.4 million ($27.22m as of 2024). This limit is set to sunset at the end of 2025 back down to the prior limit adjusted for inflation.

For those who are affected or think they may be affected if the exemption is lowered, there are numerous estate planning strategies available that can greatly reduce the amount owed. We can advise you on the best options for your family.

Advanced Estate Planning Strategies

Families with high-value estates face several complex legal and tax issues – estate tax is only one of them.

We offer a number of advanced estate planning strategies that are aimed primarily at reducing a family’s tax burden. In addition to minimizing or eliminating the estate tax liability, we also help you leverage the advantages of gift tax and generation-skipping tax to pass assets on for successive generations without risk of a tax liability decimating your estate at each generation.

Some of our most popular advanced estate planning tools and strategies include:

• Life insurance trusts
• Qualified personal residence trusts
• Grantor retained annuity trusts
• Asset protection trusts
• Land trusts
• Dynasty Trusts 
• Family limited partnerships or limited liability companies
• Asset gifting

Protecting Your Estate During Your Life And After You Are Gone

You have worked hard to build your family’s wealth and legacy, so it makes sense to put similar effort into protecting those assets after you are gone.

This includes protecting your assets against excessive taxes.

At your Family Wealth Planning Session, we can go into detail about how you can minimize the potential tax burden faced by your family so that you can maximize the inheritance you pass on to your loved ones.