Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law Attorneys

» The Summer Hours

The Summer Hours is a French film directed by Olivier Assayas (he also directed Irma Vep), and starring Juliette Binoche. It's also one of the few films I've ever seen address how children deal with the loss of their parent. By "deal with," I mean both how they emotionally cope with the loss, and how they try to move forward and dispose of (in this case) their mother's belongings.

The film opens with the mother (75-year-old Hélène) surrounded by her children and grandchildren. She begins to tell her oldest son, Frédéric, how to dispose of her summer home and priceless art collection after her death. Once that death occurs, Frédéric and his siblings (Jérémie and Adrienne, who is played by Ms. Binoche) have to work through what to do in light of what is practical. Can the home be kept in the family? What about the art work? What about the French estate tax?

This isn't a film about huge family disputes -- the children all act like adults, and try to work things out. It IS, however, a beautiful movie about memory, art vs. commerce, and what it means to be a family. Highly recommended.

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So where do we go from here? It's hard to know. If we're going to think in terms of what might happen, then we have to consider the following three possibilities:

#1: No action by Congress (no federal estate tax in 2010, but federal estate tax automatically comes back with a $1 million exemption in 2011 and thereafter);

#2: Prospective action by Congress (federal estate tax re-enacted for 2011 and thereafter -- and maybe for the rest of 2010 as well); and

#3: Retroactive action by Congress (so federal estate tax applies in all cases, even for 2010 -- obviously there's the retroactivity problem here).

If I had to guess, I'd say that #2 seems like the best possibility (maybe I should, but I'm not even including total repeal as a possibility). But even if that's the case, we have no idea what the re-enacted federal estate tax will look like. Will the exemption amount be $3.5 million? Or higher? Or lower?

The big question is, should any of this cause you to take action with respect to your documents right now? And my answer -- which I hate to give -- is, "I don't know." In a perfect world, you wait a month or so, we get some clarity on the estate tax, and then you have your documents updated. But what if that clarity doesn't come in a month or so (or ever)? Or what if you die during this period of uncertainty? Ultimately, I think everyone has to make the call on their own, depending on their situation and risk tolerance. The shameful part is that the very rich can afford to change their documents now, and then change them again and again. Can anyone else afford to do that?