Congress and President Obama have Sabotaged your Estate Plan!
As you may know, Congress and President Obama were so busy trying to ram health care and global warming legislation down the throats of the tax-paying American public that they allowed the federal estate tax to expire December 31, 2009. You may think this is a good thing, but it is just the opposite if you are married and (a) have an estate less than $3.5 million or (b) have an estate plan that includes federal estate tax language creating a "Credit Shelter" Trust or "A-B Trusts."
If your estate is less than $3.5 million, your estate was not subject to federal estate tax in 2009 and the tax code provided that death wiped out capital gains tax on appreciated capital assets (such as stock and real estate). As of January 1, 2010 your estate assets are still not subject to the federal estate tax, but your capital assets above $1.3 million, when passing to heirs, are now subject to capital gains tax. This is not only an economic issue for anyone with more than $1.3 million in capital assets, but it also creates a major hassle and expense because it requires heirs and estate attorneys to be able to determine the income tax basis of those assets. Congress made this mistake 20 years ago, and created such a reporting nightmare that they retroactively repealed it 3 years later.
If your Will or Living Trust creates "A-B" Trusts upon your death for the purpose of minimizing or avoiding federal estate tax, and if it contains a "formula clause" that distributes assets to a Marital A Trust and Family B Trust at death, Congress and the President have sabotaged your estate plan. You need to visit a knowledgeable estate planning specialist attorney as soon as possible to have your trust reviewed and perhaps amended.
Explosion of the Federal Deficit
To see what our economically illiterate Congress and President Obama are doing to our Country, our children and our grandchildren for generations to come please click the following Link:
Please Note: Each family's share of the U. S. National Debt is now more than $675,000! That includes a share for the 2/3 of Americans who pay no taxes at all!
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