Summer/Fall 2022 Gift Tax Series: Volume 2: Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (with apologies to Ben Franklin)

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.

Efficient Wealth Transfers for Consideration

30,000’ Level: Taxes, Broadly

Our clients ask us a lot about how they can be tax efficient.  That can mean a lot of different things, of course, because there are many forms of taxes.  They could be thinking about property taxes, sales taxes, income and capital gains taxes, or wealth transfer taxes (taxes on wealth that is transferred from one person to another).  And within these types of taxes, there are also levels of tax – local, state, and federal taxes to boot!