thus the scale back of the estate tax exemption is still up on the sky.
The federal(not a state) estate tax law for 2011 and 2012 contains a "portability" provision that effectively eliminates the need for AB trust during those years. This portability provision allows a surviving spouse to use any portion of a deceased spouse's 5 million estate tax exemption that wasn't used by the deceased spouse. In the past, the exemptions were not portable between spouses. Any unused portion of a deceased spouse's personal exemption was lost
To me, this portability provision is more critical than the amount of the exemptions. And I doubt there are many TZLC landlords here have combined assets more than 10 millions.
Regarding the estate tax uncertainty, one sensible approach is to create an AB trust that gives you the flexibility to use if you later need to, but doesn't lock you into anything. Such a trust is called an AB disclaimer trust.
I'm neither a tax attorny nor a financial planner. I do agree with 老瞎 though. Unless your family net assets (not the leveraged) are more than 5 millions, you do not need consider using trust to legally avoid tax.
