Benjamin Franklin’s famous observation “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” is an often-quoted opening remark when discussing the estate tax, so please forgive the quip. And yet, while death and taxes remain certain, the nature of the tax associated with death is less so. The federal estate and gift tax regime (often referred to jointly as the transfer tax regime) is a political football that gets tossed around with predictable regularity. While our clients carefully prepare for the future, changing winds in Washington can and often do result in uncertainty.