The One Big Beautiful Bill Act changed everything. Here's what it means for you.
Estate Planning in 2026: The $15 Million Window
The estate tax exemption just went up. That's the good news. The opportunity is using it strategically before your estate outgrows it. Here's the complete playbook.
What Just Changed
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21)
Signed July 4, 2025. These changes are permanent, indexed to inflation, with no sunset.
| Provision | Before (2025) | After (2026+) |
|---|
| Estate/Gift Exemption (per person) | $13,990,000 | $15,000,000 |
| Estate/Gift Exemption (married couple) | $27,980,000 | $30,000,000 |
| Sunset provision | Was set to revert to ~$7M | No sunset. Permanent. |
| Inflation indexing | Yes | Yes (begins 2027, base year 2025) |
| Estate tax rate above exemption | 40% | 40% (unchanged) |
| Gift tax annual exclusion | $19,000 | $19,000 (unchanged) |
The feared sunset did NOT happen. The exemption INCREASED. But 40% still applies to everything above $15M ($30M married). If your estate is growing at $2M/year, you'll exceed $15M in 3-5 years.
Four Strategies to Use the $15M Window
1. Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT)
Move $5M+ outside your taxable estate permanently.
An ILIT is a trust that owns your life insurance policy. Because the trust owns it (not you), the death benefit is not part of your taxable estate. A $5 million death benefit inside an ILIT means $5 million to your family, zero to the IRS. Even if your estate exceeds the $15M exemption, the ILIT portion is protected.
Impact
$5,000,000+ transferred tax-free
Outside your estate regardless of exemption level
2. Strategic Annual Gifting
Move $1.44M out of your estate over 20 years with zero gift tax.
You and your spouse can give $36,000/year to each family member with no gift tax and no reporting. Over 20 years to 4 people (children, grandchildren), that's $1,440,000 removed from your taxable estate. The money is out. It grows in their hands, not yours. And it was never taxed.
Impact
$1,440,000 transferred tax-free
$36K/year x 4 people x 20 years, zero gift tax
3. Dynasty Trust
Protect wealth for your grandchildren's grandchildren.
A dynasty trust is designed to last for multiple generations. You transfer assets into the trust using your lifetime exemption. The trust grows, distributes income to beneficiaries, and passes wealth across generations without ever being subject to estate tax again. Your children don't just inherit once. The trust keeps growing and protecting for generations.
Impact
Multi-generational tax-free wealth
One-time use of your $15M exemption protects wealth forever
4. The Digital eState Plan
Your trust lives online. Updates instantly. Your family settles it without a lawyer.
Traditional estate plans sit in a filing cabinet. Revisions cost $500+ and take weeks. When your family needs the plan, they hire an attorney and wait months. Our approach: your trust goes digital. You update beneficiaries, assets, and terms in minutes. Revisions are free and unlimited. When your family needs it, a self-service trustee portal guides them through settlement step by step.
Impact
$0 revision fees. $0 probate. Days, not months.
"Never seen a trust so well documented in all areas." - reviewing attorney
Inside the Digital eState Plan
Most estate plans fail not because the documents are wrong, but because the trust was never funded, the beneficiaries were never updated, and the family had no idea what to do when they needed it. The Digital eState Plan solves all three.
24/7 Online Access
Your trust lives in a secure online portal. Access, review, and update from anywhere.
Unlimited Free Revisions
New child? New property? New beneficiary? Update in minutes. No attorney fee. No waiting.
Digital Funding Kit
Assign assets to your trust digitally via electronic signature. No deed recording for most assets.
Advisor Share Console
Give your CPA, attorney, or financial advisor limited access. Everyone sees the same plan.
Trustee Settlement Portal
When your family needs it, a step-by-step portal guides your trustee through settlement without hiring a lawyer.
E-Vault + PostScript
Store documents, passwords, personal notes, and digital asset info. Everything your family needs in one secure place.
"Never seen a trust so well documented in all areas. No changes needed, no attorney fees."
- Attorney reviewing a Digital eState Plan client
When was the last time you looked at your estate plan?
If it's been more than a year, your trust may not reflect your current assets, beneficiaries, or the new $15M exemption. If it's never been digitized, your family will pay an attorney and wait months to access what you built. Neither of those outcomes is what you want.
Taylored Tax clients have eliminated $200,000+ in estate taxes through trust structuring, strategic gifting, and ILIT placement. Savings on this lever: $100,000/year. That's lever 5 of 7.
Running total: $800,000 saved across levers 1 through 5. Two more to go.
