Morbid? Yes. But we point to a front page article in the Wall Street Journal about how the temporary lapse in the estate tax is affecting wealthy families. It fits with our own estate planning story in the upcoming January issue of Boomer Market Advisor Magazine, and we suggest readers give it a look.
According to the story, for families facing end-of-life decisions in the immediate future, the repeal is making one of life's most trying episodes only more complex.
"I have two clients on life support, and the families are struggling with whether to continue heroic measures for a few more days," Joshua Rubenstein, a lawyer with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in New York, told the paper. "Do they want to live for the rest of their lives having made serious medical decisions based on estate-tax law?"
The paper calculates that currently, the tax applies to about 5,500 taxpayers a year. So, on average, at least 15 people die every day whose estates would benefit from the the tax's lapse.
