Once Removed Episode 19: The Step-Transaction Doctrine and the Case of Smaldino
Once Removed Episode 18: The Reciprocal Trust Doctrine
Once Removed Episode 16: Gift and Estate Tax, Inflation Adjustments for 2024
Once Removed Episode 17: Annual Gifting to Individuals: Options, Opportunities and Pitfalls
To Give or Not to Give: Considerations for Year-End Gifting
Following changes to the federal estate tax law in 2010 – which eliminated the need for separate trusts for married couples to use both spouses’ federal estate tax exemptions – Missouri enacted a new law in 2011 authorizing...more
For individual clients, the Legislation provides estate and tax planning opportunities, including through the increase in the federal gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemptions....more
On July 4, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law and as a result enacted numerous significant tax law changes. While this short article will not address each aspect of the OBBBA, it will...more
In this second installment of our multi-part series on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (the “Act”), my colleague David Knutson and I discuss the changes made by the Act to the federal estate and gift tax regime....more
President Trump’s July 4th signing of the Opportunity, Balance, and Better Budget Act sets an increased $15 million federal estate and gift tax exclusion and generation-skipping transfer tax exemption per individual,...more
The current federal estate tax exemption, expanded under the 2017 tax law, is set to expire at the end of 2025, potentially halving the exemption. This change, known as the 2025 estate tax sunset, could significantly increase...more
On May 22, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed President Trump’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill. The bill now awaits approval by the Senate. One of the various goals of the bill is to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s...more
As lawmakers advance toward the critical 2025 tax cliff, a key—and increasingly contentious—policy question is coming into sharper focus: What should Congress assume about the future when it scores the cost of extending the...more
Across all industries, private companies, family offices, and their owners and management teams face rapidly evolving challenges, opportunities, and risks in the dynamic environment that is 2025. Here are 11 issues that...more
The arrival of 2025 brings with it increased estate and gift exclusion amounts. For an estate of any decedent dying during calendar year 2025, the Federal applicable exemption will increase from $13.61 million to $13.99...more
With the end of the year quickly approaching, now is good time to ensure you make your annual exclusion gifts for the year to reduce your taxable estate. For 2024, an individual can give $18,000 (and a married couple...more
As family offices continue to adapt to economic, financial, and technological changes, several ongoing developments are giving family offices plenty consider heading into 2025, including gift and estate tax exemptions, which...more
Federal Estate, GST and Gift Tax Rates The federal estate, gift and GST applicable exclusion amounts are as summarized below. In simple terms, these dollar figures represent the amount of wealth that each individual can...more
The "big ticket" item of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) is the significant increase to the lifetime gift, estate and generation-skipping tax (GST) tax exemptions. Under the TCJA, the exemptions were increased from $5...more
In our inaugural episode of The Inside Basis, Randy Clark is joined by Sarah Bowman, one of our estate planning and trust administration lawyers, and Lauren Anderson, a wealth advisor at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, to discuss...more
A record-breaking stock market has again generated significant wealth this year. The gift tax, estate tax and generation-skipping transfer tax are all imposed on the fair market value of assets at the time of transfer. Gifts...more
The Gift and Estate Tax Exclusion is currently scheduled to be reduced by approximately 50% in about 13 months. Without action from Congress, on January 1, 2026, the Exclusion will go from almost $14 million to about $7...more
This year was busy for trusts and estates practitioners. With 2025 marking the final year of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), many of its implications for federal corporate and individual income tax, gift, estate and...more
Changing tax laws, political uncertainty, and the whole family at Thanksgiving can take us on a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. But savvy business owners (and their estate planning counsel) know that – in the end –...more
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced the 2025 cost of living adjustments for the estate and gift tax exclusion amounts. The Gift Tax Exclusion Amount is the amount an individual may gift to any number of persons...more
In 2018, as part of the “Trump tax cuts,” the federal estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption was increased to $11,180,000, with annual increases for inflation. Today, the exemption stands at...more
In 2017, the federal gift and estate tax exemption was $5.49 million. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 doubled the gift and estate tax exemption amount to $11.18 million in 2018, and that amount has been adjusted for...more
With the looming elections, tax planners have taken time to consider what the future of Estate and Gift Tax planning might be under the new Congress. Every new Congress considers changes to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986,...more
On this episode of “Splitting Heirs,” partner Warren K. Racusin, Chair of Lowenstein’s Trusts & Estates practice, invites Beth Shapiro Kaufman, Lowenstein Sandler partner and National Chair of the Private Client Services...more
At the end of 2025, the federal estate and gift tax exemption will dramatically decrease unless Congress affirmatively passes a law saying otherwise. This event is the “sunsetting” of a 2018 federal tax law and is leading...more