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Planning Your Estate - Estate Taxes are Here to Stay
According to the Wall Street Journal and other news reports, the Obama administration and congress are planning "to move soon to block the estate tax from disappearing in 2010, suggesting the levy might outlive the 'Death Tax Repeal' movement that has worked against estate taxes for many years. Approved by President Bush and congress in 2001, elimination of most inheritance taxes has been phased-in over several years, pending full abolition of such levies as of 2010; however, again, according to a Wall Street Journal article, "the Senate Finance Committee will move within weeks" to reverse the Bush law, in order to preserve the estate tax.
Based on the WSJ report, there are a couple of likely scenarios:
Under the plan articulated during the campaign, the Obama administration would lock in the estate tax at the most recent roll-back rate and exemption levels (i.e., exempting estates of $3.5 million to $7 million for couples from estate taxes while taxing estates above that level at 45%.
On the other hand, if congress were to roll-back the estate tax rate to the levels seen during the Clinton administration, then the first $1 million would be exempted from taxation with the remainder of the estate taxed at 55%.
Now is the time to engage in your own estate planning. There are several tactics that you can employ to reduce the exposure of your estate to taxation while providing for your charitable interests and love ones. RocketLawyer.com's Estate Planning Legal Help is a good place to start, along with creating your own trust and finding an estate planning lawyer to help you.
Now that the election is over, Rocket Lawyer will work to help you understand what the transition to a new government, led by President-elect Obama and the new congress, will mean for you and your family, your business or your law practice. The election results clearly indicate that next year will be marked by change. We can certainly expect a flurry of legislation targeted toward economic recovery, potentially including sweeping action on taxation, health care, energy and education.
How can you plan for the new government? What opportunities and risks will emerge in the coming months as a result of America's new political direction? These are important questions that Rocket Lawyer will help answer. The Rocket Lawyer Free Legal Help center will continue to be a good place to find simple answers to your legal questions.
We plan to be very active on behalf of consumers, small business owners and legal professionals. We'll be asking for your opinions so that we can understand how best to serve you. We hope that you will take the time to complete our survey and tell us what you think and what legal services and information you need, in this time of change.
How do you contact your local, state and federal government? While the political season brings a lot of attention to government, most people and businesses have every day reasons to interact with their local, state and federal agencies. Here are some tips and sites that can help you contact your government.
RocketLawyer.com's Free Legal Help centers can guide you to many government resources. The Federal Law Legal Help center has links to USA.gov and popular federal agencies. USA.gov has frequently asked questions (FAQs) and links to help you contact your federal elected officials. State Law Legal Help center has a listing of all fifty state government web sites and convenient links to state and local government resources. RocketLawyer.com also offers many free form letters for various government-related correspondence.
If you want a template to help you draft your own letter to a government official, you can use the Rocket Lawyer legal document interview to make a custom letter and send it via U.S. Mail, email or directly online, using one of the web sites noted in this article.
Here's a photo we took during the Democratic convention in Denver. Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona is discussing clean energy initiatives. Get involved. Remember, your government is supposed to work for YOU!
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