A practical 2026 guide to the U.S. annual gift tax exclusion: the $19,000 per-recipient limit, $38,000 with spousal gift-splitting, how it interacts with the lifetime unified credit, when Form 709 is required, the unlimited tuition and medical exclusion, 529 superfunding, and non-citizen spouse limits.
A practical guide to the federal estate and gift tax exemption sunset: how the TCJA-doubled unified exemption is scheduled to roughly halve, why 2025 to 2026 is a use-it-or-lose-it gifting window, how the lifetime exemption, annual exclusion, portability, and GST exemption interact, IRS anti-clawback guidance, and planning tools like SLATs, irrevocable trusts, and valuation discounts.
A practical 2026 guide to hiring an estate tax planning attorney in the US: the new $15M federal exemption after the OBBBA, state estate and inheritance taxes, trusts, gifting, portability, attorney fees, and the mistakes that cost families the most.
How high-net-worth families use a Family Limited Partnership (FLP) to transfer wealth to heirs at a discount in 2026: lack-of-marketability and minority-interest valuation discounts, gift and estate tax reduction, retaining control as general partner, IRS §2036 scrutiny, bona fide business purpose, and how an FLP compares to trusts, LLCs, and GRATs.
A SLAT lets one spouse gift assets into an irrevocable trust for the other spouse, using the historically high lifetime gift and estate tax exemption before it drops — while keeping indirect access to the money. This 2026 guide explains how a SLAT works, the exemption sunset, the reciprocal trust doctrine, divorce and death risk, grantor-trust income tax, and how it compares to an ILIT, GRAT, and bypass trust.
A GRAT lets you move a high-growth asset into a trust, take back annual annuity payments, and pass the excess appreciation to your heirs gift-tax-free. This 2026 guide explains the IRS 7520 hurdle rate, zeroed-out and rolling (laddered) GRAT strategies, the mortality risk, which assets fit, who it's for, and how it compares to a SLAT and other trusts.