The death of a client does not bring an end to estate planning. Rather, post-mortem estate planning allows practitioners and beneficiaries to proactively shape the way an estate is treated for income, estate and gift tax purposes, and the way property is distributed. Through the use of a wide variety of elections, planners can respond to changed law and factual circumstances, errors in planning, and help reduce the tax liability of the estate. There are also crucial post-mortem choices to be made about a decedent’s retirement assets. This program will provide you with a practical guide to the many interrelated post-mortem planning choices available to planners, administrators and beneficiaries.
· Post-mortem estate planning opportunities
· Estate tax return –QTIP elections and relationship to GST tax traps, qualified domestic trusts, installment method, and alternative valuations
· Retirement assets – inclusion in gross estate and beneficiary options
· GST tax issues – allocation of exemption, reverse QTIP elections, relief from late elections
· Beneficiary elections, including the use of disclaimers
· Issues on a decedent’s final tax return – filing jointly or singly, medical expenses, and refunds
· Income tax return of estate – Section 645 elections, separate share rules, tax year, state and local taxes