SUPPLEMENT UPDATE: Connecticut Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts Library: Forms and Practice Manual March 2023 (1.16)

Robert F. Cohn, Esq., a principal at Zangari Cohn Cuthbertson Duhl & Grello, P.C., has developed substantial expertise in the areas of estate planning, estate administration, and elder law as well as business succession planning and corporate business transactions. His clients have been successful in achieving family harmony, reducing estate and income taxes, reducing administrative costs, and minimizing aggravation. The practice has grown from preparing wills, trusts, and other estate planning strategies for business owners and retired individuals, to guiding closely held business owners in the transition of ownership and management to their children or a younger generation of owners. Mr. Cohn is a member of the Estate and Probate Sections of the Connecticut Bar Association and a member of the Connecticut Estate and Tax Planning Council. He is a frequent speaker on estate, trust, and elder law issues, a speaker for the National Business Institute, and has written articles for various publications, including the Connecticut Law Tribune. Mr. Cohn also acts as estate planning advisor for many top financial institutions and trust departments and serves as Vice-President of The Connection Fund, Inc., a large non-profit organization in Connecticut that provides housing and clinical assistance to those with mental illness or drug dependency. Mr. Cohn received his B.S. Degree in accounting from the State University of New York at Binghamton, his J.D. from Washington University, and an LL.M. in taxation from New York University. Mr. Cohn is admitted to the bar in New York and Connecticut.

Important features of this year's supplement include:

• As of January 1, 2023, for the first time, the Connecticut estate tax and the federal estate tax grant the same exempt amount, $12,920,000. For most clients Connecticut is now a state with no “death” taxes to be concerned about. This supplements the Manual by explaining that planning for large estates is simplified because a Bypass Trust for a surviving spouse can hold the maximum federal exemption without paying Connecticut estate taxes. Also, a gift can be made now of up to $12,920,000 to “lock in” the current high federal exemption without incurring Connecticut Gift tax. There would be less of a need to create a Connecticut Q-TIP trust to in effect create two Bypass Trusts. As explained in the Supplement, the federal exemption is still scheduled to “sunset” in 2026 and be reduced to approximately less than $8,000,000 depending on continued inflation.

AND NOW….

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Pay online for your recently received supplement update using the "Add to Cart" button above, and then download and access all of the forms in digital format. We have replaced our CDs with a convenient ZIP file containing the ready-to-use, customizable documents so that you can easily open and modify the forms.