I have given quite a few seminars over the past five years on estate planning and have answered many, many questions. I have also helped many clients and provided all the information I can so those clients can make a knowledgeable decision regarding their estate plan. So, I want to spend the next few posts going over questions I run into with estate planning to help spread more knowledge to the people of Altus and the surrounding areas of southwest Oklahoma (and the world).

Common Question: I really do not see much value in putting a will in place, but I was at the barbershop the other day and he said if I don’t do anything, the State will get my property, and what the State doesn’t use will go the federal government for taxes. What can we do to avoid this result?

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As to the taxes, there is always a lot of contention surrounding the Estate Tax. Due to the changes in the tax law at the beginning of 2013, the estate tax exemption was set to $5,250,000 per person, indexed to inflation. This is in addition to the unlimited marital and charitable deductions. The simple fact of the matter is that with the increased exemption amount, less than 1% of estates will ever get close to federal estate taxation. However, if you are above that $5,000,000 mark, then you should sit down with a qualified estate and tax planning attorney to look at your options.