Dealing with the New "See-Saw" Rules of Estate Planning
Congress has added to the economic uncertainty that prevails today by failing to act before the end of 2009 to eliminate a confusing set of see-saw tax rules. When Congress passed the 2001 law that provided for a one-year elimination of the estate tax in 2010, no one expected the estate tax actually to disappear. Everyone thought Congress would act before 2010 to prevent this from happening. Unfortunately, Congress never acted to change the 2001 law, giving rise to many unintended consequences. While there has been talk of retroactive legislation to correct this problem, no one knows what form this legislation might take or if retroactivity could withstand Constitutional challenge. Given this state of affairs, we would like to provide you with some information about the current state of the tax laws that may affect your estate plan. We encourage you to contact us with any questions that you may have about these issues.