Tax laws have a way of shifting right under a perfectly good estate plan. The rules that applied when you signed your documents may not be the rules in effect today. That gap can cost the people you love. Keeping up with those changes is part of a recent article from Kiplinger, “Protect Your Family’s Future: Avoid These 12 Common Estate Planning Mistakes.”
Start with the good news. The federal estate tax exemption is now very high — $15 million per person in 2026, or $30 million for a married couple. Thanks to legislation passed in 2025, that exemption has been made permanent and is adjusted for inflation going forward, rather than dropping back to a far lower level as had once been scheduled. For most families, this means no federal estate tax at all. It is a real relief. However, it does not mean your estate plan is automatically fine.
The first thing the federal headline can hide is state taxes. Several states impose their own estate tax, and a smaller group impose an inheritance tax — a tax paid by the people who inherit, with the amount often depending on how closely related they were to you. More than 30 states impose no death tax at all, while others do, sometimes with thresholds far below the federal figure. Because these rules vary by state and can change, it is worth confirming what applies where you live before you assume your heirs are in the clear. For Pennsylvanians, there is an inheritance tax with no threshold, and the tax rate depends on the beneficiary’s legal relationship, or lack thereof, with the decedent.
The second trap is subtler and lives inside older documents. Many Wills and Trusts written years ago contain “formula” language tied to whatever the estate tax exemption happened to be at the time. When the exemption changes, those formulas can quietly produce a result you never intended. Imagine a Will that directs “the maximum exempt amount” into a trust for the children, with the rest going to a surviving spouse. Drafted when the exemption was modest, that clause made sense. Under today’s much larger exemption, it could steer far more into the trust than you meant — potentially leaving your spouse with less access to funds than you ever planned.
This is also a reminder of why tax and estate planning advice should not be taken from the internet, an AI chatbot, or a well-meaning relative. The “right” answer keeps moving, and an outdated rule of thumb can do real damage. What looked settled a few years ago may have been overtaken by a change in the law you never heard about.
If it has been more than a few years since anyone looked at your documents — or if they contain formulas tied to old tax figures — sit down with an experienced estate planning attorney. They can confirm whether your plan still does what you intend under the rules that are in effect today, both federally and in your state.
Reference: Kiplinger (Jan. 28, 2026) “Protect Your Family’s Future: Avoid These 12 Common Estate Planning Mistakes”
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