As mentioned in an earlier blog, ATRA made two elements of the law in effect for 2011 and 2012 “permanent:” (i) portability, and (ii) the $5 million federal tax threshold amount, indexed. The indexing results in an effective threshold of $5.25 million for federal estate tax purposes this year. For Marylanders, however, the state […]
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Off the Fiscal Cliff: Estate/Gift Tax Changes
THE NEW TAX ACT As you undoubtedly know, the so-called “fiscal cliff” was avoided by the passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (“ATRA”). The same basic issues, of course, will reappear within the debt-limit/government-shutdown debate coming up in February and March. With the passage of ATRA, the focus of that debate will […]
Do Same Sex Partners Qualify for the Estate Tax Marital Deduction?
By referendum, Maryland voters retained the expansion of the definition of “marriage” contained in the 2012 Act to include same sex couples, effective for marriages occurring in Maryland after the first of the year. Even before that vote, Maryland recognized same sex marriages from other jurisdictions. The Court of Appeals recognized an out-of-state same sex […]
Trustee Release
When a personal representative or a trustee makes the final distribution to the beneficiaries, they want to be done. They do not want those beneficiaries raising questions later about the management of the estate or trust. A common practice is for personal representatives and trustees to require a release before making the final […]
Post-Mortem Partnership “Planning”
Family partnerships are an important part of estate and asset protection planning. It is no secret, of course, that the IRS has launched attacks on the valuation discounts, and the resulting tax savings, this planning achieves. Because of the close IRS scrutiny, however it is important that the plan is carefully thought out, properly […]
