The property subject to the tax is the taxable estate. This is not necessarily the same as the probate estate or the estate your will gives away. For instance, property you put in a trust which says you get the income for your life and after your death the principal goes to your kids is not in your probate estate. Your will does not control who gets it. Yet it is in your taxable estate because you get the income from it and you created the trust. Generally any property you once owned and now get the income from or any property for which you control or retain the right to say who gets it is in your taxable estate. For instance - your life insurance is usually in your taxable estate because you retain the right to name and chose beneficiaries, even though you may never see a dime of the insurance money.

NOTE: There currently is no Federal or state estate tax or generation skipping tax. The gift tax is still in effect. Whether or not the estate and generation skipping taxes will be reinstated this year is not known. Many people expect that they will be reinstated, but what will happen is not known. What the rates and exemptions will be if the taxes are reinstated is also not known. Click here for more.

Illinois Wills Lawyer Donald M. Thompson * 55 W. Monroe #3950; Chicago, IL 60603
Ph: 312-782-0844 * Fax: 312-201-1436 * Email: donthompsonlaw@sbcglobal.net