“Wait and See” Approach for the Estate Tax

While some attorneys’ solution to the estate tax mess is to draft for every possible scenario, others have decided to “wait and see” what happens.

New York estate planner Mark Eghrari tells his clients to postpone filing any forms for the maximum time period (nine months) upon the death of a loved one in 2010. If there is still no resolution by that time, he tells them to file for a six-month extension. Although this is not what most of his clients wish to do, it allows them to avoid last-minute tax code changes for 2010.

If Washington does not apply a new estate tax law retroactively, Eghrari will spend the first several months of 2011 helping his clients calculate capital gains by tracing appreciated values of homes and stock splits.

“What we need is certainty around the law so that the people who have lost their loved ones this year can begin the healing process. To allow deliberation on this issue to drag on for months would be shameful for our nation.”

Mark S. Eghrari, Estate Tax Confusion Leaves Survivors in Fiscal Purgatory, Investment News, June 27, 2010.   

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (WealthCounsel) for bringing this to my attention.