Monday, June 19, 2006

Bye-Bye to Bypass Trusts?

When last heard from, Senate Republicans said it was estate tax repeal or nothing. Nothing is what they got. Now signs of flexibility are emerging.

This Washington Post story reports that House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, at the request of Senate Republican leader Bill Frist, has introduced a bill that would raise the estate tax exemption to $5 million. If a married person died without using all or part of his or her exemption, the surviving spouse could claim the unused exemption along with his or her own exemption.

Does this mean bypass trusts will be history?

1 comment:

Jim Gust said...

Bypass trusts will remain important for asset management, especially in cases where the husband did the portfolio management. However, it is fair to say that without the financial goad--get your estate plans in order or throw away half the family exemption--there will probably be much less estate planning paid for.