All Estate Planning

In United States v. Windsor (June 26, 2013), the U.S. Supreme Court held that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defined marriage as between one man and one woman, violated the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.…

As part of the recent second special legislative session, the Washington state legislature made several changes to the Washington state estate tax, effective for persons dying after January 1, 2014. Other changes were designed to limit the impact of the…

Each person may exclude from income up to $250,000 of capital gain on the sale of the person’s principal residence (known as the “gain exclusion,” governed by Internal Revenue Code § 121). A married couple may exclude up to $500,000…

How many years after a taxable gift may the IRS audit the gift? Taxpayers are often surprised to learn that when a gift tax return is not filed, or when a filed gift tax return does not “adequately disclose” a…

On January 2, 2013, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (the “2012 Tax Act”) was signed into law. While the 2012 Tax Act did not significantly affect many taxpayers, those individuals with incomes over $400,000 and married couples filing…

On January 2, 2013, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (the “2012 Tax Act”) was signed into law. Under the 2012 Tax Act, the top federal estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax rate is 40%, representing an increase…

On October 18, 2012, the Washington State Supreme Court issued a decision regarding the Washington state estate tax consequences of reporting “qualified terminable interest property” (QTIP) on the estate tax return of the second spouse to die.  In re Estate…

While a gift of closely-held business interests can be an effective wealth transfer technique, an IRS revaluation of the gifted interests can cause unintended gift tax consequences.  For example, if a donor makes a gift of $5 million of business…

The Congressional extension of the “Bush tax cuts” in late 2010 included for the first time a rarely-discussed provision that can result in significant estate tax savings.  Known as “portability,” the provision allows the Personal Representative of the estate of…