News & Insights
Estate Planning
Estate planning explained: what probate does, what happens without a will, the federal exemption, and why a beneficiary form outranks the document you signed.
-
Your beneficiary form outranks your will
The Supreme Court has twice held that a named ex-spouse keeps the money. “Congress has spoken with force and clarity in directing that the proceeds belong to the named beneficiary and no other.”
-
Buy-sell agreements after Connelly v. United States
A unanimous Supreme Court held in June 2024 that a corporation’s obligation to redeem a dead shareholder’s stock does not offset the life insurance bought to fund it. The estate tax bill was $889,914.
-
Living trust or will: what each one actually does
The Florida Bar puts it plainly: revocable trusts are often credited with saving estate taxes, and that is not accurate. Here is what a trust does do, and what it costs to do it.
-
What an irrevocable life insurance trust does, and the three-year rule that undoes it
An ILIT keeps the death benefit out of the taxable estate by making sure the insured never owns the policy. Section 2035 reaches back three years for anyone who transfers one in.
-
What happens if you die without a will
Pew found that fewer than one in three American adults under 60 has a will. Dying without one does not mean nobody inherits. It means a statute decides who does.
-
Does life insurance go through probate?
A named beneficiary takes the money by contract, outside probate and outside the will. Two Supreme Court decisions show how completely that designation controls.
-
The federal estate tax exemption is $15 million in 2026. Who does that actually affect?
Revenue Procedure 2025-32 set the 2026 basic exclusion amount at $15,000,000 per person. The sunset that drove a decade of planning is gone, and state thresholds are now the live problem.
-
Is a life insurance payout taxable?
The IRS says death benefit proceeds are generally not includable in gross income. Three things change that answer, and one of them is decided on the application.
Talk it through with an agent.
If something here raised a question about your own coverage, an agent will answer it without turning it into an appointment.