What is the current federal estate tax law?
A federal estate tax is levied on the transfer of our assets to your heirs after your death. For deaths occurring in 2009, a federal estate tax in not due unless your total estate, including life insurance and retirement plan benefits, is over $3.5 million. However, there is no way of predicting what the law will be in the future. In addition to the applicable exclusion amount, a married person can leave an estate of any size to a spouse, provided the spouse is a U.S. citizen, without any estate taxes. However, leaving your full estate to your spouse will merely defer estate taxes until the death of the spouse.
