A mistake some make when conducting their estate planning is to only consider what they have today. Retirement is hopefully a long time and your needs may change over time and your wealth might grow more then you think.

Even if today you have less then the current 11.4 million estate tax exemption, it might be a good idea to have a discussion with your estate planning attorney about the portability of your estate tax exemption. Portability came about with the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Re-authorization and Job Creation Act of 2017. Portability allows a surviving spouse to inherit their spouses 11.4 million estate tax deduction amount. So even if they don’t need to use it, you can preserve it just in case you need it.

Portability effectively doubles the amount of the estate that you can pass on free of estate tax. If future estate tax law changes limit the ability to elect Portability, you may miss a potentially valuable election. So have a discussion with your estate planning attorney today to discuss locking in Portability for tomorrow.