Estate Tax Planning2025-01-13T12:29:09-08:00

Estate Tax Planning

Protect Your Legacy with Strategic Estate Tax Planning

Estate tax planning is essential for securing your family’s financial future, especially with major changes to tax exemptions on the horizon. By planning early, you can minimize tax burdens and maximize wealth transfers to future generations.

Why Act Now?

The current combined federal gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption for people who die in 2025 allows individuals to transfer up to $13.99 million ($27.98 million for married couples) without incurring taxes. However, this exemption is set to be cut approximately in half after 2025, exposing families to higher taxes.

Additionally, the maximum estate tax rate, currently at 40%, for assets over $1,000,000, could increase, with historical rates as high as 77%. Acting before these changes ensures your assets are protected under favorable laws.

Key Strategies for Wealth Preservation

1. Dynasty Trusts

    • Permanently shelter assets from gift, estate, and GST taxes.
    • Protect family wealth from creditors and unforeseen events like divorces.
    • Support multiple generations without additional taxes.

2. Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRATs, CRUTs)

    • Receive the joy of giving to your favorite charities during your lifetime
    • Avoid capital gains on donated assets
    • Receive a fair market value charitable donation
    • Receive income for your lifetime
    • Others can receive income for a period of time as well

3. Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATs)

    • Provide financial security for your spouse during their lifetime.
    • Preserve wealth for heirs while reducing taxable estates.

4. Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts (IDGTs)

    • Transfer substantial wealth through discounted sales of assets.
    • Allow your family to retain significant savings even as assets grow.

The Cost of Waiting

Failing to act before tax law changes could mean higher tax liabilities and reduced financial security for your heirs. Planning today ensures your family’s assets are preserved, avoiding unnecessary complications and costs.

Let’s Plan Together

At Lawvex, our experienced estate planning attorneys work closely with you to create customized strategies that align with your family’s unique goals. Don’t let this opportunity slip away—schedule your consultation today and secure your legacy for generations to come.

Estate Tax PlanNing FAQs

The current estate tax exemption is $13.99 million per individual or $27.98 million for married couples (in 2025). This allows you to transfer assets tax-free during your lifetime or after your death. However, this exemption is set to decrease by half after 2025, potentially increasing tax liabilities for your heirs.

Planning early ensures you can take advantage of the current high exemption amounts before they are reduced. By acting now, you can minimize federal gift, estate, and GST taxes and protect your wealth from potential tax rate increases, which historically have been as high as 77%.

A Dynasty Trust is a long-term trust designed to preserve wealth for multiple generations. Assets in a Dynasty Trust are protected from gift, estate, and GST taxes, as well as from creditors. For example, a $27.98 million Dynasty Trust could grow to $207 million in 30 years, tax-free, for your family’s future.

A CRAT allows you to gift appreciated assets today to tax exempt charities and receive a charitable deduction for the fair market value of the asset. The charity typically provides the trustee, who manages the asset value and distributes the income to you for your and your spouse’s lifetime. You can also include that income is distributed to children or others for a period of time after your death. At your death, or a designated time in the future, the income is no longer distributed and the assets are distributed outright to the charity.

A SLAT allows one spouse to create a trust benefiting the other which utilizes presently high exemption amounts. Even if the estate tax exemption drops in the future, the prior creation of the SLAT is effectively grandfathered in which reduces estate tax liability and preserves assets for future generations. It’s an excellent option for high net worth families who want flexibility, as the trust can provide financial security for the spouse while still reducing the taxable estate.

An IDGT lets you transfer assets, like business interests, to future generations in a tax-efficient way. By selling discounted assets to the trust, you can leverage current exemptions to transfer wealth while minimizing taxes on the growth of those assets.

Work with experienced estate planning attorneys who can tailor strategies to your family’s unique needs. At Lawvex, we provide customized solutions, including Dynasty Trusts, CRATs and CRUTs, SLATs, and IDGTs, to help you protect your wealth and legacy.

We Do A Lot of estate planning

Our estate planning partners opened 386 estate planning cases in 2022.  

We create almost 400 estate plans every year. That’s over 30 estate plans per month. We have heard it all. We can guide you through a simple and understandable process that makes stewardship for your family easy and accessible. Our estate planning services are based on your needs and the complexity of your choices.

Take a look at our three programs below and then Contact Us to call us to see what program is most appropriate for you and schedule your initial consultation with an experienced estate planning attorney.

If you would like to Learn More about Wills and Trusts, check out our blog article A Will or Trust: Which one is right for you?

FAMILY FOUNDATIONS

  • Lowest Fixed Fee
  • Simple Estates under $3 Million

  • Attorney Plan Design Meeting

  • Confirmation Letter

  • Attorney Confirmation Call

  • Attorney Draft Review/Signing Ceremony Meeting

  • Joint Revocable Living Trust

  • Pour Over Wills

  • Advance Health Care Directives

  • Durable Powers of Attorney

  • Certification of Trust

  • Assignment of Property to Trust

  • 1 Deed Transfer Property to Trust

FAMILY WEALTH

  • Fixed Fee

  • Estates from $3 Million to $5 Million

  • Preliminary Estate Tax Planning

  • Medium Complexity Estates

  • Includes Family Foundations PLUS

  • Additional Attorney Plan Design Meeting

  • Additional Deed, LLC or Stock funded to Trust

  • Secure Estate Document Online Hosting

  • Secure Document Sharing

  • Self Employed / Small Business Owner

  • Blended Family Planning

  • Special Needs Beneficiary Planning

  • Substance Abuse Beneficiary Planning

  • Beneficiary Right to Live in Trust Property Planning

PLAN BY DESIGN

  • Hourly Fees

  • Estates $5 Million and over

  • Estate Tax Planning

  • Complex Estates

  • Includes Family Wealth PLUS

  • Unlimited Attorney Plan Design Meetings

  • Business Succession Planning

  • Communication with CPA / Financial Advisor

  • Assigned Trust Funding Coordinator

  • Trust Funding All Real Property

  • Trust Funding All Business Interests

  • Trust Funding All Beneficiary Designations (IRA, Life Insurance)

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