Using Powers of Appointment in Trusts

Trusts & Estate’s Magazine
June 2020

While we don’t know the outcome of the upcoming election, practitioners should counsel clients to plan in advance of possible adverse changes affecting the estate tax.  Some of these changes (originally proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders) could include: a reduction in the estate and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to $3.5 million, a reduction of the gift exemption to $1 million, the emasculation of grantor-retained annuity trusts (GRATs), inclusion of grantor trust assets in a settlor’s estate, capping the annual gift exclusion at $20,000 per donor and more.  Presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden has proposed a capital gains tax on death.

Click here to read more