Article: The Estate Tax Lives On, but Only in Name

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act did not eliminate the estate tax, but it is largely irrelevant to most Americans due to high exemptions and numerous loopholes. This column introduces the concept of legal quietude to describe a law that remains formally in place while doing little practical work. The real action in regulating dynastic wealth has shifted to trust law, where creative planning techniques increasingly substitute for tax liability. The estate tax endures as a symbolic gesture, but the law of trusts now must do the work the tax code no longer attempts.