Estates, Gifts & Trusts

Estate Planning (800 2nd)

 

Portfolio Description

Tax Management Portfolio, Estate Planning, No. 800-2nd, is designed as an authoritative and practical working tool for attorneys, accountants, and others involved in an estate planning practice. The basic estate, gift, and trust planning concepts are presented in a descriptive and conveniently accessible form. The topics treated include: the development of an estate planning strategy; fundamentals of the federal transfer tax system and related federal income tax rules; lifetime donative asset transfers; gratuitous property transfers at death; generation-skipping transfers; special property transfer planning considerations (e.g., community property, life insurance, charitable transfers, closely held corporations), and post-mortem planning. Other Portfolios in the Tax Management Estates, Gifts, and Trusts series provide detailed coverage of the various specific planning topics surveyed in this Portfolio. These other Portfolios are identified at appropriate locations in the text of this Portfolio.

Effective estate planning (particularly, the federal tax planning component) enables a person to make both lifetime and testamentary transfers of assets to that person's beneficiaries of choice and, in the process, conserve wealth for those recipients (often family members). Various methods may be employed to both (i) achieve the estate planning client's objectives regarding the completion of these transfers and the port-mortem management and disposition of the property, and (ii) minimize income, gift and estate tax liabilities on the asset transfers. Effective estate planning, however, requires a working knowledge of both the federal and state tax (income, estate, and gift) and the non-tax reasons for using traditional wealth shifting vehicles such as wills, trusts, and powers of appointment. Therefore, a familiarity with various state property, trust and business laws is also essential. This Portfolio provides the practitioner with an overview of the estate planning concepts necessary in advising clients concerning these several elements of wealth transfer planning.

The planning discussed in this Portfolio is primarily focused on the period prior to the year 2010. Under the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 the federal estate and federal generation-skipping transfer taxes (but not the federal gift tax) are scheduled for phase-down and then termination in 2010 but, subsequently, restoration in the year 2011 (as these taxes existed in the year 2001). A modified carryover tax basis regime will be implemented in 2010 for federal income tax purposes. The gift tax system will not be eliminated, however. Consequently, at various locations in this portfolio planning observations are included for three separate periods: (i) the years prior to year 2010; (ii) when the estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes are terminated during 2010; and (iii) after the restoration, in the year 2011, of the prior transfer tax system.

This Portfolio may be cited as Streng, 800-2nd T.M., Estate Planning.

William P. Streng, Wartburg College (B.A., 1959); Northwestern University School of Law (J.D., 1962); Law Clerk to Honorable Lester L. Cecil, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1963-1964; associated with Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1964-1970; Attorney-Advisor, Office of Tax Legislative Counsel (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy), U.S. Dept. of the Treasury, Washington, D.C., 1970-1971; Deputy General Counsel, Export-Import Bank of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1971-1973; Of Counsel, Haynes & Boone, Dallas, Texas (1977-1979); Professor of Law, School of Law, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas (1973-1979); Bracewell & Patterson, Houston, Texas (Partner, 1980-1985; Consultant, 1985-2005); Bracewell & Giuliani LLP (Consultant, 2005-present); Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center (1985-present); Visiting Professor, The Ohio State University College of Law (1977); New York University School of Law (1990); The University of Texas School of Law (2002); Lecturer, Rice University (1987-1989); Distinguished Lecturer, University of Hong Kong Law Faculty (1992); Fulbright Professor, University of Stockholm Law Faculty (1993); Visiting Fellow, Victoria University Law Faculty (1996); Visiting Professor, The University of Leiden, The Netherlands, 1997, 1998 & 2000; Member: American Law Institute and its Tax Advisory Group; the International Fiscal Association (and Council Member, USA Branch); The European Association of Tax Law Professors; The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law; the American Bar Association's Section of Taxation; the BNA Tax Management Advisory Board; and various other professional organizations; Author or co-author of books and Tax Management portfolios: "U.S. International Estate Planning," (RIAG-Warren, Gorham & Lamont, 1996, and updates on Checkpoint); 700 T.M., Choice of Entity (1997); Tax Planning for Retirement , with M. Davis (RIAG-Warren, Gorham & Lamont, 2004); "International Business Planning: Law and Taxation -- United States," with J. Salacuse (six volumes, 1982, Matthew Bender, supplemented through 2004); Bittker, Emory & Streng, "Federal Income Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders -- Forms," 4th ed. (1995, and supplements to 2005); "International Business Transactions-Tax and Legal Handbook" (Prentice-Hall, 1978); "Estate Planning-Principles, Techniques and Materials" (Tax Management, 1981); and "International Tax Planning -- Second Edition" (Tax Management, 1979, with William Gifford). Co-editor (with A. Wilcox), Doing Business in China , Transnational Juris Publishers (1990).