The Wall Street Journal describes two of the changes just proposed by the Obama administration impacting trust and estate law.
They are seeking to limit the use of Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (or GRATs) by requiring that the minimum term be 10 years. The technique provides that property can be put into a trust and the post gift appreciation would not be subject to gift tax as long as the person remained alive at the end of the term. In order to seek to make sure they lived through the term more people had been using shorter terms as little as just 2 years for example. The minimum term sought to restrict the use.
The administration is also seeking to disregard some valuation discounts with the use of Family Limited Partnerships or other similar planning techniques to disregard lack of marketability and lack of control discounts which can allow for up to 40% discounts. For more information click on the link to the article at the top of the post.