The fiscal cliff deal/compromise passed at the first of the year has changed what we need to discuss with our clients on a daily basis.  After 12 long years of waiting for a long-term answer to the question of how much property – including life insurance money – could be left to family and friends without paying a special federal estate tax, the new federal minimum is now more than $5 million (up from a possible $1 million amount). 

There are all kinds of estate planning things you can do if you might leave more than the estate tax limit.  We became knowledgeable about those techniques over the years while working with everyday people who were at risk of getting caught in the estate tax trap just because they could die with more than $1 million in the future. 

That kind of planning was more complicated than our clients and we would have preferred, but it was better than our clients paying avoidable taxes.  But now we will not need to explain the estate tax system and its related special rules in detail very often. 

We are based in the southwest suburbs of Chicago (although when we moved here in 1977, it wasn’t in the suburbs yet!). 

Although this is not a destitute part of the world, families with more than $5 million to pass at death are definitely not common here.  But families with more than $1 million are common (not the majority, but still common). 

To discuss the more important planning issues, like planning access to good care in the future and reducing family tension after a person’s passing, please call our office at (815) 436-1996 for an estate planning appointment. © 2013 Gruber Law Office. Ltd.