Posted 12/5/2012 12:56 (#2734340 - in reply to #2734262) Subject: RE: Thoughts on all the talk/complaining about taxes/estate tax on here.
There are different types of trusts. A living trust is used to avoid probate. It does nothing to avoid estate taxes.
A Charitable Remainer Trust is commonly used to pass an amount equal to the estate tax exhemption amount ($5M now) to the trust. The remainder goes to the surviving spouse.
There can still be estate tax due when the surviving spouse dies.
There CRTs have caused problems in IL as the IL exemption is not tied the federal amount. IL is currently $2M. It can also cause a problem if the estate is sizeable but short of $5M. The trust gets funded per the will leaving nothing for the surviving spouse.