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Review your estate plan to ensure it reflects new tax laws

On Behalf of | Feb 9, 2018 | Estate Planning

With the passage of the new lax laws, many estate plans require revisiting and possible revising. For many years, estate planning professionals navigated complex tax avoidance systems to help clients keep more of their own estate to pass on to their beneficiaries.

Now, under the new tax law, couples may exempt a frankly staggering sum of money from estate taxation, potentially complicating or invalidating many estate plans. According to the new law, a couple may exempt up to $22 million from federal estate tax.

Only 20 years ago, that exemption was a comparatively conservative $600,000, creeping up to $11 million before the most recent tax overhaul. For most couples, this is more than enough to cover their estate from federal estate taxation. However, state-level taxation is still on the table in many instances, leading to many potential complications for those who do not update their estate plans to reflect the new laws.

Many of the complex estate planning tools used for decades may now serve as barriers to your beneficiaries receiving a timely payout from your estate and may drain your resources while the proper authorities sort out how to reconcile your estate plan with the new law.

Don’t put off this important review of your estate plan. Doing so only places your loved ones and your estate at risk of unnecessary roadblocks to fulfilling your wishes when the time comes. An experienced estate planning attorney can help you assess your existing plan in light of the new laws and make sure that you have all the tools you need to achieve your estate planning goals.

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