How the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) Affects Estate Planning

By Bobby Feisee, Ashburn Estate Planning Attorney The “fiscal cliff” could have been a fiscal nightmare for people with sizable estates. For example, if we actually went over the cliff, the estate and lifetime gift exemption would have decreased from $5.12 million to $1 million, according to Forbes.com. It would have also meant the possibility of reducing, or outright eliminating, legal wealth transfer strategies. Fortunately, Congress acted quickly after January 1, 2013 and passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA). But you may be asking, “how does this affect my estate plan?” Good question. We discussed some of the implications for estate planning in our January 10 post, but we wanted to provide additional information for our readers. Here are four important provisions of ATRA that affect estate planning: 1. The estate and gift tax rate will increase to 40 percent, a jump from 35 percent last year. 2. The exclusion...