How QPRTs Went From Effective Estate Planning To Time Bomb

The Federal estate tax exemption is high enough, $5.43 million per person and double that per couple, that it only affects the very wealthiest people in the country – not even 1% – but an outdated estate planning technique meant to get around a much lower exemption in the 1980s and 90s has left a nasty surprise for anyone still using a qualified personal residence trust (QPRT). “Nobody could have predicted what would happen to the estate tax exemptions, and I wouldn’t fault any estate planner that did this in the 90s, but now it’s a mess,” says Jessica Goldsmith,…