On Dec. 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Act) was signed into law. It is the most sweeping federal tax legislation in decades and significantly changes the landscape of individual, corporate, partnership, international, and trust and estate taxation. In general, the changes made by the Act took effect as of Jan. 1, 2018, with most of the provisions affecting individual taxpayers being scheduled to sunset at the end of 2025. The estate tax exemption more than doubled from approximately $5 million to approximately $11 million. The implications of the Act are far-reaching.
As with all significant tax law changes, it is important for individuals to review the effects of the Act on their estate plan with their advisors. With the new estate tax exemption very few of us will need to worry about estate taxes. More focus will be placed on capital gains strategies. In addition, individuals that had put together certain business arrangements as estate tax strategies will need to evaluate if these strategies need to be modified or dismantled given the tax changes.
Given these changes you should revisit your estate plan as soon as possible. Point being that whether it’s a new political party running the country, new laws or a new divorce/marriage/mortality/ behavioral issue in the family, change of any kind should prompt a review of your estate plan. And change, as the saying goes, is inevitable and constant.
Changes usual create more questions than answers resulting in a lot of confusion. We at Crane Law Group are happy to review your estate plan and make sure you have the necessary protections in place and work with you to develop estate planning strategies to take advantage of the changes in the tax law. And, if you have not established an estate plan as yet or depending on a will to protect your family legacy, this is a very important time to put an estate plan into place. Give us a call and we will make sure you implement the right strategies to protect your family legacy.