The biggest challenge for estate planners is how to reduce estate and gift taxes but allow the client to retain control over his assets. Family limited partnerships (FLPs) provide a solution to this problem.
When you place investments, a business, or real estate holdings in a FLP, you retain control of the assets while at
Thanks to Congress’s failure to act to "fix" the estate tax by the end of 2009, your estate plan may have a serious problem. If your estate plan divides your assets by use of a formula that refers to the estate tax, your plan could be in trouble.
Many people have this type of plan.
In 1981 with the passage of the Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA), Section 2035 of the Internal Revenue Code was amended so that most gifts made within three years of death were no longer pulled back into the estate. The 3-year rule was not eliminated completely, however. Transfers of life insurance within three years of death