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| Photo courtesy of Terry Johnston |
Imagine Joe and Mary are a retired Naperville couple with a
combined $7.5 million in Illinois assets. Joe has $5 million in his name, and
Mary has $2.5 million in her name. Both
are 85 years old and trying to maximize the amount of money that passes to
their children after their deaths.
Let’s discuss how one type of estate planning tool, the
credit shelter trust, can make over a $600,000 difference in their Illinois estate tax
bill. We will do this by considering two
hypothetical scenarios. First, we will
consider a scenario where Joe and Mary simply have a will giving all their
possessions to their spouse upon death, and if neither spouse
is alive, to the children. The second scenario is one
where they set up a credit shelter trust.
