An annual estate plan checkup is critical to the health of your estate plan. Because various exclusion, exemption and deduction amounts are adjusted for inflation, they can change from year to year, impacting your plan:
| 2015 | 2016 | |
| Lifetime gift and estate tax exemption | $5.43 million | $5.45 million |
| Generation-skipping transfer tax exemption | $5.43 million | $5.45 million |
| Annual gift tax exclusion | $14,000 | $14,000 |
| Marital deduction for gifts to noncitizen spouse | $147,000 | $148,000 |
You may need to update your estate plan based on these changes. But the beginning of the year isn’t the only time for an estate plan checkup. Whenever there are significant changes in your family — such as births, deaths, marriages or divorces — it’s a good idea to revisit your estate plan. Your plan also merits a look any time your financial situation changes significantly.
If you’d like us to conduct your annual estate plan checkup, we’d be happy to. Or, if you don’t yet have an estate plan, we can help you create one.
