Estate Planning Update July 2026 2026 Annual Gift Tax Exclusion: remains $19,000 per donor, per donee. 2026 Gift and Estate Tax Exemption: increased to $15,000,000 per person this year (an increase of $110,000 per individual or $220,000 for a married couple) and made permanent. Marital Deduction for Transfers to U.S. Spouse: remains unlimited. 2026 Generation [...]
High net worth Scottsdale couple sought assistance with creating a structure and strategy to make lifetime gifts to their children. DeAngelis Legal advised the clients on the varying interests of their children in the family business and income and estate tax issues. We also worked with the client’s bookkeeper, accountant and banker to design, draft [...]
Long time high net worth Arizona based client desired to make large lifetime gifts to his children. DeAngelis Legal advised the client regarding funding, control and use of the gifts to take advantage of the new 2026 estate tax exemptions, protect the assets from the children’s creditors and control the disposition of the funds. We worked [...]
Mom died leaving various real estate investments to her children in trust. The children were also named as co-trustees. Unfortunately, mom made pre-death transfers to some of the children. The co-trustees engaged DeAngelis Legal to assist them to sort out the issues with these transfers. The issues addressed included: (1) determining if the pre-death transfers [...]
DeAngelis Legal performed a five-year review of a current high net worth Scottsdale couple’s estate plan in connection with the 2025 estate tax changes. After the review, the couple identified several areas that they desired to change, including the distribution scheme and lifetime gifting. DeAngelis Legal prepared the updated estate plan documents and implemented the [...]
Widower in Phoenix died leaving three children as beneficiaries. Unfortunately, the widower made commitments benefiting one child over the others but failed to properly document the commitments. The trustee engaged DeAngelis Legal to assist him with the administration and resolve the conflicting interests of the siblings. In a refreshing result, the siblings were able to [...]
Winter usually results in several deaths, but this January DeAngelis Legal was hit especially hard with several long-time and beloved clients dying over the holidays triggering the provisions of their formerly revocable trusts. Over time, we develop an affinity for our clients and learn so much from them that we also grieve their premature death. [...]
You have the power (maybe). Financial powers of attorney allow you (the principal) to appoint someone you trust (the agent) to perform certain acts related to your financial affairs on your behalf. These instruments have a variety of uses, but are often used in the estate planning industry in in conjunction with, or in lieu [...]
Because the values of a married couple’s estate and the amount of the estate tax exemption change over time, estate planners commonly use formulas in a will or trust to avoid inadvertently triggering an estate tax on the first spouse’s death. These formulas divide a deceased person's assets between a marital share which qualifies for [...]
Estate Planning Update January 2026 2026 Annual Gift Tax Exclusion: remains $19,000 per donor, per donee. 2026 Gift and Estate Tax Exemption: increased to $15,000,000 per person this year (an increase of $110,000 per individual or $220,000 for a married couple) and made permanent. See paragraph 6(a) below. Marital Deduction for Transfers to U.S. Spouse: [...]
