Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

Re: Estate assets to a non-aire

If you and your sibling are married you could each give her $22K a year until the desired sum was paid. No adverse gift tax consequences.

You could also work out a series of renunciations, but this is somewhat complex and requires cooperation from a lot of people.

Re: Estate assets to a non-aire

Since your aunt is not a direct heir, using the renunciation is very complicated. The easiest is to commence an annual gift program using the annual $12,000 gift allowance. If you need to get the funds to her more quickly, you could also use a portion of your lifetime exemptions. There would be no gift taxes involved and her recipt of a gift would not be income. I am not sure if you want to make a direct gift to her. Perhaps, as an alternative, you could create a trust for her benefit that would allow both income and principal to be available to her and, if the principal was not expended in its entirety, any remaining principal could revert to you and your brother or your families. I suggest discussing your objectives with an attorney, like myself, who could both provide some suggestions and prepare any necessary documents. This is a response to an Internet question and the reply is not to be considered as legal advice or as creating an attorney-client relationship.