Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law Attorneys

» 5 Things You Need to Know About the Estate Tax in 2010: Introduction

I'm going to be starting a series of posts entitled "5 Things You Need to Know About the Estate Tax in 2010." The first post should be up tomorrow, but before that, I need to vent.

I've put off writing about this because (1) I get angry just thinking about it and (2) I was hoping against hope that something would be changed by the end of 2009 (it wasn't, obviously). So here we are.

There's an idea being floated by some political commentators that Congress is "broken" because it can't pass health care reform. I don't buy that, but of course I, as a conservative, stand athwart history (and athwart expensive, invasive and probably unconstitutional legislation that can never be repealed) yelling "stop." Health care reform is a huge, (overly-)complicated deal, and it SHOULD be difficult to make huge changes to the way our nation works.

The estate tax, on the other hand? I got nothing. In June of 2001, major changes were enacted to the way in which the federal estate tax operates. Because of a so-called "sunset provision," these changes make no sense:

2002-2009: estate tax exemption increases, estate tax rates fall

2010: no estate tax

2011: estate tax exemption and rates back to what they would have been in 2001

What in the world? I know -- it's ridiculous. But here's the thing: we've KNOWN about this ridiculous result ever since June of 2001. And nobody in Congress has done anything to fix it. So here we are, with a ridiculous, unworkable estate tax law and rampant uncertainty about whether it will ever be fixed.

OK, that's enough ranting -- in this series of posts I'll be discussing things like:

-How carry-over basis works

-Could Congress impose an estate tax for 2010 retroactively?

-How estate tax repeal affects Family Trust and Marital Trust planning

-The state estate tax problem

-Planning for 2011 and on

» The Unlikeliest Dividend Play
Buffett eschews dividends? Get real.

» Forbes: Get Them Jamming On Estate Planning

January 31, 2010 Danielle Mayoras, who co-authored Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights! with me, recently wrote an article for Forbes.com to help financial advisers, attorneys, and other professionals get their clients talking about estate planning, using celebrity stories.

» Move Ideas from One Business to Another
Looking for the next big thing? You might find it in industry other than your own.

» Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry and Probate

I enjoyed Audrey Niffenegger's first novel, The Time Traveler's Wife. Haven't seen the movie -- looks a little too sappy -- but the book was great.

Right now I'm working on Ms. Niffenegger's newest, entitled Her Fearful Symmetry. I've just started it, but the novel appears to be a riff on the old idea of "stay in a haunted house overnight to get an inheritance." Two American twenty-somethings (twins) get the following letter (which I have edited) from the attorney for their English aunt, who has passed away:

Dear Julia and Valentina Poole,

I regret to inform you of the death of your aunt, Elspeth Alice Noblin.... Last September, knowing that her illness would soon result in her death, she made a new will. I am enclosing a copy of this document. You are her residuary legatees; that is, she has bequeathed you her entire estate, with the exception of a few minor bequests to friends and charities. You will receive this inheritance when you reach the age of twenty-one.

The bequest is given to you with the following conditions:

1) Ms. Noblin owned an apartment in London.... She bequeathed this apartment to you on the condition that you both live in it for one year before you may sell it.

2) The entire bequest is given on the condition that no part of it shall be used to benefit Ms. Noblin's [twin] sister, Edwina, or Edwina's husband, Jack (your parents). Also, Edwina and Jack Poole are forbidden to set foot in the flat or inspect its contents.

Sounds intriguing, doesn't it?