Saint Charles Estate Tax Attorneys

In this article, our Saint Charles estate tax lawyers explain the ramifications of the new federal estate tax law. Although the new federal estate tax exemption was recently doubled, the Illinois estate tax exemption remains at $4 million.  This means that estates with assets in excess of $4 million, including life insurance death benefits, will still be subject to Illinois estate tax. Even if your estate will not be subject to estate tax, if you own your home and do not have a proper estate plan that incorporates a revocable living trust, your estate will likely require a costly probate case. The upshot is, that for residents of Illinois, estate planning strategies should not significantly change based on the new federal tax law.

Read the full article by our Saint Charles estate tax attorneys explaining the new federal estate tax law.

In this article, our Saint Charles estate tax attorneys explain some of the strategies we use to minimize estate tax. These include:

• Using revocable living trusts to allow couples to take advantage of one another's Illinois estate tax exemption,
• Using irrevocable life insurance trusts to remove the death benefit of life insurance policies from the taxable estate; and
• Using grantor retained annuity trusts and similar instruments (GRITS, GRATS, and GRUTS) to allow businesses, real estate, and other assets to accumulate in value without the accumulated value being part of the taxable estate.

Read the full article by our Saint Charles estate tax lawyers explaining tools we use to minimize estate tax for our clients.

In this article, our Saint Charles estate tax attorneys explain the various types of taxes that the executor or administrator of an estate may be required to file when someone passes away, including:

• State and federal estate taxes;
• State and federal final year income tax returns for the decedent; and
• State and federal estate income tax returns.

Read the full article by our Saint Charles estate tax lawyers explaining the different taxes that have to be filed by an executor or administrator of an estate in Illinois.