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All property passing to a spouse is deductible – whether by lifetime gift or at death. This means that while the value of these transfers is in the estate, it is also deductible.

Whatever is given to a spouse is not taxable. If you give your spouse $10 million during life or at death there is no tax. But when the spouse dies later there is no marital deduction unless the spouse has remarried.

At this time the spouse could give your property to his or her second spouse, unless you take steps to avoid it.

Find out more about Chicago Estate Planning.

Estate planning often involves lifetime gifts to children. This gets appreciation on the assets out of the parents' estates. This was also done in the past to shift income to children who were usually in a lower tax bracket.

Now a child under 14 pays tax at the parents' highest marginal tax rate on the child's unearned income over $1600 if that would be higher than the child's tax.

Call attorney Don Thompson at 312-782-0844 for all Chicago Estate Planning matters.

When spouses (or anyone else) together create one trust it is called a joint trust. These trusts are common in community property states, but are not widely used in Illinois because of the adverse estate and gift tax consequences that may result. Recently the tax rules have been eased in some private letter rulings and there are also many non-taxable estates so the use of joint trusts is increasing. There are still many technical pitfalls and separate trusts are usually advisable.

These should not be confused with joint wills. When both spouses share one will it is called a joint will. Joint wills, for a variety of reasons, should not be used.

Contact estate planning lawyer Don Thompson today. Call 312-782-0844.