Estate Planning: The Clock is Ticking -- Use it or Lose it Before 2013

"Estate Planning: The Clock is Ticking — Use it or Lose it Before 2013" by David Pratt, Lindsay A. Roshkind, and Scott L. Goldberger - Florida Bar Journal (February 2012 -- Volume 86, No. 2) ("Page 31 | On December 17, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-312, 124 Stat. 3296 (2010) (2010 act). The 2010 act ushered in some significant changes to the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax regimes, namely reducing the estate, gift, and GST tax rates to 35 percent, increasing the estate, gift, and GST tax exemptions to $5 million,[1] and reunifying the estate and gift tax exemptions.[2] However, these provisions of the 2010 act will remain in effect only through December 31, 2012, when the act is scheduled to sunset.[3] Unless Congress enacts new legislation prior to then, on January 1, 2013, the law will revert to the laws in effect in 2001, with top estate, gift, and GST tax rates of 55 percent, estate and gift tax exemptions of only $1 million, and a GST tax exemption of only $1 million (indexed for inflation).[4] Thus, in order for clients to avail themselves of the maximum benefits under the 2010 act, clients should consider engaging in one or more of the planning techniques discussed in this article as soon as possible. Each of these techniques can significantly reduce one’s taxable estate at death by taking advantage of the provisions of the 2010 act before they expire.")

Another State Death Tax Kicks The Bucket, Will More Fall? - Forbes

Another State Death Tax Kicks The Bucket, Will More Fall? - Forbes (JEH: Tennessee might just eliminate its own inheritance and gift tax regime after all!)

Rubin on Tax: JUDICIAL MODIFICATION OF TRUST BARRED BY TRUST TERMS [FLORIDA]

Rubin on Tax: JUDICIAL MODIFICATION OF TRUST BARRED BY TRUST TERMS [FLORIDA] (JEH: Floridians can indeed "opt out" of the Florida Trust Code's judicial modification provisions. Query whether that also bars modification under common law, which was the underlying premise of earlier Florida cases that allowed changes to a trust's provisions.)