The folks in DC are still twiddling their thumbs, posturing, or just out playing golf!? So nothing new has developed out there and thus the fiscal cliff is coming. The loss of the greatest gift and estate tax exemption of my lifetime is about to sunset into history. Will we look back on 2011 and 2012 as historic years in the gift and estate tax world?

In the past week I have met with four different clients with net worths around $20-25m. In our little practice, in little old Sacramento, these are pretty wealthy people. All of them wanted to talk to me about taking advantage of the 2012 tax laws before it’s too late. The GIFT that is the 2012 gift tax exemption. The gift that expires in 27 days. To say it’s not too late is a stretch in that it’s not too late if you start TODAY or maybe tomorrow. However, the longer you wait in the month the harder it will be to put together a truly tax efficient plan.

We might be able to throw something together on December 20th or so. However, it will not get the benefit of a minority and lack of marketability discounting study done by a forensic accountant. That is, they won’t have time to do their job. However, we can still do things like gift 50% of a parcel and get a 15-20% discount through a tenancy in common (TIC).

The key is planning ahead. Yes, you should have called me 6 months ago. However we can still save your family MILLIONS in estate tax so call us, or another qualified estate planning attorney, today.