谢谢jy101和美西下面的介绍.我这样理解对吗?
1. The Living trust will help you avoid the lengthy probation process, so your beneficiaries can inherit your estate faster.
2. A living trust (such as AB trust) can help you reduce or even avoid some estate tax, but this only apply if your estate is > 7 million (3.5 mil limit for each person). In next year, the limit seems to fall back to 1 mil for each person, so a living trust will make sense if you combine asset is > 2 mil.
3. If your estate is more than the IRS limit (7 mil now and 2 mil starting next year), and you want to further REDUCE the IMPACT of the estate tax, you can purchase life insurance. The estate tax does not reduce, it is what it is, but your heir can use the proceed from the life insurance to pay the estate tax.
This also means if one's estate is less than the limit, he/she does not need to buy the extra life insurance for this purpose, but he/she should get the living trust done anyway, to avoid the lengthy probation process. He/she might still need the life insurance, but that's mainly for the insurance purpose, not for reducing the impact of the estate tax.
Am I get it right?
