Co-Executive Director
WealthCounsel | The Advisors Forum

As of the last week of March, we have no further guidance from Congress regarding the federal estate tax and generation-skipping transfer tax (GSTT). However, now that Congress has nearly completed the health care debate, does that mean Congress will turn its attention to addressing the estate tax and GSTT? Some key Congressmen have indicated that it does – but others have been saying that for months, so we really don’t know.

What we do know is that there is continuing confusion among clients, allied professionals, and the estate planning community at large as to what to do now. In response, we have offered a series of estate tax repeal webinars that address drafting solutions in WealthDocx, Now What? Practical Solutions for Gift & Estate Tax Planning in 2010 and Beyond. The recordings of Parts I and II of these webinars, along with the native versions of the materials, are available for download from the members’ homepage at  (please note that you must be logged in to access these recordings). Again, thank you to WealthCounsel principals Lew Dymond, Tom Ray, Carl Waldman and Stan Miller for these excellent presentations.

We’ve been suggesting since early January that, at a minimum, you should send a letter to all of your clients urging them to have you review their estate plans. To this end, the materials for the Now What? webinars include a sample letter to clients for this very purpose – as well as a sample letter to other professionals educating them as to these issues. Some members have even taken the materials that we provided and have used them to present retail and wholesale seminars. Those members have reported that they have generated significant new business as a result of their “2010” seminars, and we encourage all other members to do the same.

Whether you use the materials we provide or use something else, we strongly encourage you to proactively reach out to your clients and make them aware of the need to revise their estate plans in light of the 2010 estate tax laws. A recent Dow Jones article suggests that we should expect litigation over clients who die this year with estate plans that accidentally disinherit a surviving spouse or children because of an “old” formula funding clause. The National Association of Estate Planners and Councils, in a preface to their sample letter recommends that you diligently follow up with your clients to make sure they are fully aware of the risks of doing nothing this year. You may also want to document which clients you notify to help your clients and their trustees avoid litigation if estate plans mature under the current estate tax laws.