The Coaster

The Coaster by Erich Wurster

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Authors: Erich Wurster
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telling the grieving widow that her son-in-law was going to be in charge of her dead husband’s considerable estate? “I think we’re with you. What’s the exemption amount?”
    â€œThat’s the funny part,” Lang said, but you could tell he didn’t think it was funny at all. There was a layer of sweat across his upper lip. “Under the…” he put on his reading glasses and looked down at the document on his desk as if it was crucial to get this information exactly right. The glasses probably had plain glass in them. I’ll bet he just used them to look lawyerly… “Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act, the estate tax was repealed completely. In other words, this year there is no exemption amount. Any amount can be transferred to anyone tax-free.”
    I was all over this. I felt like one of the gunners who used to raise their hand and answer every professor’s question back in law school. “So there’s no exemption to worry about, and all of the money would go into the marital trust.”
    Lang winced a little and gritted his teeth, like he was about to receive a shot from his doctor or down a particularly nasty shot of whiskey. “That’s what you might expect to happen, Bob, but it’s actually the opposite. In any other year, the marital trust would get the vast majority of the assets, but this year…”
    â€œBecause there’s no estate tax,” I interrupted, “Sam’s entire estate goes in the family trust.”
    â€œThat is correct, Bob,” Lang said. “So as trustee, you, not Joan, will be in charge of all of Sam’s money.”
    ***
    â€œI don’t understand,” Joan said. “What’s the difference? Everything’s in a trust either way, right?”
    Lang got lawyerly again. “In a basic sense, the two trusts are very similar. Joan is the beneficiary during her lifetime and Sarah is the beneficiary upon Joan’s death. But as a practical matter, the trusts are very different for the beneficiary. In the marital trust, it’s all essentially Joan’s money to do with as she pleases. She could request that every penny be distributed immediately and that request would be granted.”
    â€œBut you just told us none of the estate was going in that trust,” I said. “Why are we talking about the trust provisions of an empty trust?”
    â€œI want everyone to understand the thinking that went into this. If Sam had died in any other year, Joan would have complete access to the vast majority of the assets in the estate.”
    I was beginning to understand. “So, ironically, because Sam died in a year with no estate tax, Joan will have limited access to her own money in order to avoid paying estate tax.”
    â€œI don’t know if it’s ‘ironic,’ but the substance of what you said is correct.” Ironically, no one really knows what “ironic” means.
    â€œMaybe it’s not ironic, but what are the odds of Sam dying right before his estate was essentially going to be cut in half by the government?”
    â€œIt’s not that unusual,” Lang said. “There are reports of sick and elderly people who essentially willed themselves to die before the end of the year so their families would get all of the money they accumulated.”
    â€œOr got smothered with a pillow by those families.” It just popped out. I looked at Sarah and Joan. “But certainly not this family.” I’m sure some greedy adult children tried to beat the end of the year deadline by tripping over mom’s ventilator cord, but in our case it would have been absurd to think saving some taxes would be a net financial benefit to the family, compared to having Sam still in charge.
    Lang jumped in quickly. “No one is suggesting anything like that. It was just a coincidence.”
    â€œRight,” I said. “So we know

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