Caution: Under EGTRRA’s "sunset" provision, the laws governing federal income, gift, estate, and generation-skipping taxes will apply beginning in 2011 as if the 2001 Act had never been passed, unless Congress acts to the contrary.

What Is Estate Planning?

Estate planning is the process of arranging assets in a manner that helps to meet lifetime financial objectives, and simultaneously helps provide for survivors' needs and the disposition of property at death. A carefully implemented estate plan can help to—

• create and conserve assets during life
• minimize death taxes and estate settlement costs
• assure that cash is available to pay unavoidable death taxes and costs
• provide an orderly distribution of assets that meets the estate owner's objectives and intentions
• provide peace of mind and family harmony.

The Estate Planning section of AMO covers a host of topics, all accessible from the home screen, applicable to estate planning for U.S. citizens. You can learn about— 

• wills and intestacy
• forms of property ownership
• federal gift tax
• federal estate tax
• estate valuation
• marital deduction
• qualified terminable interest property (QTIP)
• Section 6166
• generation-skipping transfer tax (GSTT)
• irrevocable life insurance trust
• revocable living trust
• bypass trust
• GRITs, GRATs, and GRUTs
• family limited partnerships (FLPs)
• Section 2503(c) trust
• UGMA and UTMA
• qualified domestic trust
• advance medical directives 
• durable power of attorney
• Medicaid
• income in respect of a decedent

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