The New Year a Perfect Time for Estate Planning Checkup

T&E Chat

01.04.16 | T&E Chat

An annual estate plan checkup is critical to the health of your estate plan. Because various exclusion, exemption and deduction amounts are adjusted for inflation, they can change from year to year, impacting your plan. The following chart indicates changes in exclusions and exemptions for 2016 that may be enough to necessitate an update to your estate plan:

	2015	2016
Lifetime gift and estate tax exemption	$5.43 million	$5.45 million
Generation-skipping transfer tax exemption	$5.43 million	$5.45 million
Annual gift tax exclusion	$14,000	$14,000
Marital deduction for gifts to noncitizen spouse	$147,000	$148,000

But the beginning of the year isn’t the only time for an estate plan checkup. Whenever there are significant changes in your family — such as births, deaths, marriages or divorces — it’s a good idea to revisit your estate plan. Your plan also merits a look any time your financial situation changes significantly.

If you’d like us to conduct your annual estate plan checkup or help you create an estate plan, contact me at msvagna@berdonllp.com or your Berdon advisor.

Marco Svagna, a tax partner at Berdon LLP, advises high net worth individuals and family/owner-managed business clients on estate and income tax issues, succession and financial planning, and other matters relating to the preservation of wealth.