By David Port
LifeHealthPRO
As closely as many Americans have been monitoring the high-stakes political jousting over federal monetary policy in Washington, D.C., perhaps no one has been paying more rapt attention to Uncle Sam’s adventures on the brink of the fiscal cliff than members of the estate planning community.
Now, with the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 having provided clarity in what had been a cloudy tax policy environment, estate planning specialists such as Gail E. Cohen can get back to the business of helping clients. It sure beats watching CSPAN for the latest riveting developments in the fiscal policy debate.
“It’s much more difficult to work with [estate planning] clients when you are uncertain as to what the tax landscape will be,” says Cohen, vice chairman and general trust counsel at Fiduciary Trust Company International and chair of the New York Bankers Association. “For example, last year we really had no idea what Congress was going to do with the estate tax exemption. People had to make decisions and do things they perhaps might not have done [had there been clarity about the exemption level]. The fact that they have something they’re calling permanent, I think, is very reassuring. It feels as though there’s been a collective release of breath. People are able to think clearly again.”
Continued:
http://www.lifehealthpro.com/2013/03/26/estate-planning-in-a-post-fiscal-cliff-world?t=life-products
If you’d like to discuss estate planning/asset protection, contact Laura Bianchi, Director RLG’s Estate Planning/Asset Protection Department., lbianchi@roselawgroup.com
