Problems in Springing the Delaware Tax Trap

Taking into account the stratospheric $11.18 million federal estate tax exclusion enacted by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,¹ most decedents are no longer subject to federal estate taxes. This means that many existing credit shelter trusts (and other irrevocable trusts) will no longer generate estate tax savings. Worse yet, these trusts have suddenly become counterproductive from an income tax point of view, because their assets generally don’t receive stepped-up basis treatment