One of the main purposes of estate planning is to ensure that as many as possible of the assets that you have spent a lifetime accumulating are available to be passed on to your beneficiaries in Florham Park. That said, you are likely already planning for some of those funds to bo back to the government in tax. That is the expectation that many of those who have come to us here at Johnson & Johnson, Attorneys at Law for assistance with their estate planning. Like them, you will be pleasantly surprised to learn that with proper planning, you may be able to avoid having your estate become subject to tax.
That is, of course, assuming that it qualifies to be taxed at all. The federal government has established an estate tax exemption that may keep your estate from being taxed (as of 2018, New Jersey no longer imposes a local estate tax). Per the Internal Revenue Service, the estate tax exemption amount for 2020 is $11.58 million. Provided that the total taxable value of your estate is below that amount, it will not be taxed.
By working with your spouse to take advantage of the unlimited marital deduction in conjunction with your estate planning, you may be able to protect even more than the exemption threshold. The unlimited marital deduction allows you to leave whatever amount you wish to your spouse without those funds being taxed. By leaving your entire estate to your spouse, you can preserve your entire estate tax threshold. Your spouse is then allowed to combine the unused portion of their exemption with yours by electing estate tax portability. This allows you to together preserve as much as $23.16 million for your heirs.
More information on estate planning strategies can be found throughout our site.