Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

I know the federal estate tax is repealed this year and will go to 1,000,000 next year. No one can predict the future of it after that.

For argument sake... You have a $3,000,000 estate. Let's say the estate tax goes to $2,000,000. You can give a gift of 1,000,000 while you are alive to your children. Lets say you do. No tax is due, but you have to report it to the IRS.

Now you die. Do the kids still get the $2,000,000 exemption, or, since you gave them 1 mil already, does that figure become the maximum exemption?


Asked on 3/23/10, 9:37 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Ken Koenen, LLM Law Office of Ken Koenen

They are separate, and do not affect each other. One is a Gift Tax and the other is an Estate Tax. There are some bills in Congress right now to change the exemption to $3.5 (Democrats) or $5 million (Republicans), but nothing is certain as of my last check.

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Answered on 3/28/10, 11:14 am


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