A number of high-net-worth families will no longer have to worry about estate taxes due to the Tax Cut and Jobs Act. With the exemption threshold effectively doubled, the estate tax will impact far fewer households. Though advisers warn that the estate tax may come back in the future, many families are revisiting their estate plans with their planners. A big area of potential savings comes from modifying life insurance policies that are no longer needed. Frank Seneco, president of Seneco & Associates, says that if “there isn’t a need for life insurance to pay estate taxes, then the issue is how clients should best unwind or modify their existing life insurance policies.” Possible solutions may be to adjust the death benefit, a life settlement, or to convert the existing policy into a private placement policy. By reexamining estate plans, the wealthy can pass on significantly more to their loved ones at death.
See Russ Alan Prince, What the Wealthy Should Consider Because of the Higher Estate Tax Exemption Levels, Forbes, January 15, 2018.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
