Estate Tax Increase Looms Amid Shortage of Qualified Lawyers

After years on the rise, the estate tax exemption appears likely to fall during the Biden administration. Wealthy clients are already getting their affairs in order, but the trusts and estates bench has relatively few lawyers with the necessary experience and education.

September 23, 2021 at 06:19 PM

4 minute read

Tax

Dan Roe
Reporter

When the Trump administration effectively doubled the estate tax exemption in 2018, the number of wealthy Americans seeking the services of lawyers with "LL.M." next to their name for the purposes of estate planning plummeted.

Former President Donald Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act took the tax exemption—the amount of money exempt from the 40% estate tax when someone dies—from $5 million to $11.2 million, effective January 2018.

Now, trusts and estates practices across the state are staffing up, both to accommodate the influx of wealthy Americans moving to Florida and in anticipation of President Joe Biden's tax plan. Biden campaigned on lowering the exemption to $3.5 million, the lowest rate since 2009. It would be a massive windfall for estate planners.