The One Big Beautiful Bill has removed much of the uncertainty concerning the estate tax exclusion. Nonetheless, clients still need to address: the estate, gift, generation-skipping, income, and property tax implications of estate plans; the pros and cons of relying on the portable exclusion to avoid estate tax; and strategies to benefit non-citizen spouses. In this course, we examine the role of the marital deduction and Survivor's Trusts ("A" trusts), ways to maximize planning opportunities by building flexibility into the modern estate plan, the qualitative and quantitative implications of various strategies affecting blended families, whether to use Bypass ("B") Trusts, QTIP ("C") trusts, or qualified domestic trusts (QDOTs), and whether to file a Form 706 when it's not required.
Learning Objectives
• Determine how to properly apply recent tax and legal developments
• Recognize how to claim the portable exclusion at the first and second deaths
• Identify the pros and cons of “B” (Bypass) trusts
• Recognize the trend toward “A” (Survivor's)/—C” (QTIP) trusts planning, leaving out “B” (Bypass) Trusts, and when it is appropriate
• Understand the purpose, benefits, and risks of qualified domestic trusts (QDOTs)
Major Topics
• The interplay of the estate, gift, generation-skipping, and income taxes
• Claiming and protecting the portable exclusion
• Marital deduction planning: rules for and reasons to use Survivor’s, QTIP, and Qualified Domestic Trusts
• “B” (Bypass) trusts
• “A” (Survivor’s)/—C” (QTIP) trusts planning
• "QDOT" (Qualified Domestic Trust) planning
• What planners should tell their wealthy clients after the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill
