Wealth Preservation, Trusts and Estates

David M. Frees III on Federal Estate Tax

No one ever thought that this would happen. Congress cannot just let this lapse. They will lose too much tax revenue. It doesn’t make sense.

But, that’s the conclusion of the Wall Street Journal after a review of trust and estate lawyers at a recent gathering. And those of you who are my clients know that for years we have been waiting for Congress to act to fix the deeply flawed estate tax. And, no one ever really believed that congress would let the tax go away. I still don’t believe that they will.

They seem to be totally pralyzed by health care reform. However, they seem to be considering a one year “fix.” Under this plan the law will stay as it is for one more year and then fall back to the old $1 million dollar exemption. But, if they let it lapse, they will probably re-enact it shortly after in 2010 and make it retroactive to the start of the year. Sound unfair or unconstitutional? Read this Wall Street Journal Article on the retroactive estate tax issue.

The bottom line: If the tax disappears, millions of wills will no longer make sense as they are drafted according to formulas linked to the law. If Congress doesn’t act soon call your estate planning lawyer or attorney.

Please leave your questions and comments below.

David M. Frees III, Esquire: wills, trusts, powers of attorney, living wills and
all related estate planning issues.

Attorney David Frees has offices in Phoenixville, Malvern, and West Chester which serve all
of Chester County, Montgomery County, Deleware County as well as Berks, Bucks and
Lancaster Counties.

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Written by: David M. Frees III

Chairman: Trust, Estates, and Wealth Preservation
E-mail: dfrees@utbf.com
Phone: 610-933-8069
AVVO Rating: 10.0

David M. Frees

online at

visit superlawyers.com

David M. Frees III limits his personal practice within the firm to trusts, estates, probate, asset protection, and business succession planning. Mr. Frees is also an author and internationally known speaker.

Tags: Federal Estate Tax, Malvern lawyer, Malvern will attorney, Phoenixville, Phoenixville Lawyer, Will Attorney, Wset Chester will attorney, Wset Chester will lawyer

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Estate Planning, Estate Tax Planning, Estate tax, death tax reform, wealth planning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.