Uncertainty due to Congress's delays

As an estate planning attorney, one of my primary objectives is to ensure that my clients are comfortable with the estate plan they have formulated. However, the current state of the estate tax law makes achieving that objective very difficult. Clients are becoming more and more skittish about making estate planning decisions because of the uncertainty caused by Congress’s delays in addressing the federal estate tax issue.

Presently (in 2010), there is no federal estate tax. However, speculation abounds that Congress may enact an estate tax for 2010 and impose it retroactively. Moreover, the federal estate tax that is scheduled to become effective on January 1, 2011 (unless Congress acts before then), carries an exemption of only $1 million and a top tax rate of 55%, substantially less than the exemption of $3.5 million and 45% top tax rate of 2009.

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