Estateur Resource Library
A working reference for trusts-and-estates attorneys.
Expert-grade guides across 6 practice areas — from the 2026 transfer-tax system to trust funding, the SECURE Act, and state-law formalities — with citations, last-updated dates, and interactive planning tools.
Start here
A short orientation path through the fundamentals every plan turns on.
- 1
The Federal Transfer Tax System (2026)
The unified estate, gift, and GST regime, the permanent $15M exemption under the OBBBA, portability and DSUE, and basis step-up.
2Revocable Living Trusts
Probate avoidance, incapacity management, and privacy — plus the myths (creditor protection, tax savings) to correct with clients.
3Trust Funding Fundamentals
Why funding is the make-or-break step, what to retitle, how to sequence it, and a working funding checklist.
4Retirement Assets After the SECURE Act
The 10-year rule, eligible designated beneficiaries, conduit vs. accumulation see-through trusts, and the 2024 final regulations.
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Showing 41 of 41 resources
Wills and Will Substitutes
What a will can and cannot control, how probate transfer differs from nonprobate transfer, and the will-substitute landscape.
Revocable Living Trusts
Probate avoidance, incapacity management, and privacy — plus the myths (creditor protection, tax savings) to correct with clients.
Pour-Over Wills
How the pour-over will interacts with a revocable trust, the UTATA validation rules, and why it is a backstop rather than the plan.
Financial Powers of Attorney
Durable vs. springing, hot powers, agent authority over gifts and trusts, and why third-party acceptance is the practical battleground.
Healthcare Directives and HIPAA Authorizations
Healthcare proxy, living will, and HIPAA authorization — the incapacity trio, how they interact, and drafting for real hospital use.
Guardian Nominations for Minor Children
Nominating guardians of the person and estate, standby guardianship, and coordinating the nomination with trusts for minors.
The Federal Transfer Tax System (2026)
The unified estate, gift, and GST regime, the permanent $15M exemption under the OBBBA, portability and DSUE, and basis step-up.
Marital Deduction, Credit-Shelter, QTIP, and Disclaimer Trusts
A-B planning mechanics, QTIP elections, the disclaimer alternative, and choosing between bypass funding and portability.
ILITs and Crummey Powers
Keeping life insurance out of the estate: ILIT structure, the three-year rule, transfer-for-value, and Crummey withdrawal mechanics.
GRATs and QPRTs
Freeze-and-shift techniques under IRC 2702: zeroed-out GRATs, mortality risk, and qualified personal residence trusts.
IDGTs and Installment Sales to Grantor Trusts
The intentionally defective grantor trust, sale-to-IDGT freeze, seed gifts, self-canceling notes, and basis considerations.
Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATs)
Using exemption now while retaining indirect access through a spouse — and avoiding the reciprocal trust doctrine.
Charitable Split-Interest Trusts (CRTs and CLTs)
CRAT/CRUT and CLAT/CLUT mechanics, the income/remainder split, deduction timing, and when each fits.
Dynasty Trusts and the GST Tax
GST tax mechanics, the inclusion ratio, exemption allocation and ETIP, and building a perpetual, tax-efficient dynasty trust.
Special Needs Trusts
First-party (d4A), pooled (d4C), and third-party SNTs; preserving SSI/Medicaid; payback and distribution rules.
Retirement Assets After the SECURE Act
The 10-year rule, eligible designated beneficiaries, conduit vs. accumulation see-through trusts, and the 2024 final regulations.
Planning for Blended Families
Balancing a surviving spouse against children from a prior relationship: QTIPs, ascertainable standards, and fiduciary selection.
Business Succession: FLPs, LLCs, and Buy-Sell Agreements
Entity freezes, valuation discounts, buy-sell design, and the current Corporate Transparency Act / BOI reporting posture.
Digital Assets and Fiduciary Access
RUFADAA's tiered-access framework, planning for cryptocurrency and online accounts, and drafting fiduciary authority.
Asset Protection and Domestic Asset Protection Trusts
Fraudulent-transfer limits, spendthrift trusts, DAPT jurisdictions, and the unresolved conflict-of-laws risk for nonresidents.
Trust Funding Fundamentals
Why funding is the make-or-break step, what to retitle, how to sequence it, and a working funding checklist.
Deeds for Estate Planning: Warranty, Quitclaim, TOD, and Lady Bird
Choosing among deed types to fund trusts or transfer at death, and the title, tax, and Medicaid consequences of each.
Beneficiary Designations and Assignments
POD/TOD registrations, retirement and insurance designations, general assignments of personalty, and keeping them coordinated.
Execution Formalities Across the States
Witnessing, notarization, self-proving affidavits, holographic wills, and remote/electronic execution — and why the details matter.
State Estate and Inheritance Taxes (2026)
The dozen-plus states with a death tax, low state exemptions that catch modest estates, and planning for the federal/state gap.
Community Property, Elective Share, and the Migratory Client
How marital-property regimes shape planning, spousal protection in separate-property states, and traps when clients move.
Homestead, Perpetuities, Decanting, and Directed Trusts
State-specific creditor and duration doctrines: homestead protection, the modern rule against perpetuities, decanting, and directed trusts.
Execution Ceremonies and Remote Online Notarization
Running a defensible signing ceremony, self-proving affidavits, and when RON and remote witnessing are (and are not) available.
Common Drafting Pitfalls
The recurring errors that generate litigation and malpractice: ademption, abatement, tax apportionment, formula clauses, and more.
Ethics: UPL, Multistate Practice, Conflicts, and Capacity
Multijurisdictional practice and UPL lines, joint representation and conflicts, diminished capacity, and fiduciary-appointment ethics.
Plan Review Cadence and Update Triggers
When to revisit an estate plan: life events, law changes, and asset shifts — and a practical review framework.
Selecting Trustees and Drafting Trustee Powers
Choosing among individual, corporate, and directed fiduciaries, and drafting the powers, standards, and removal machinery that make the choice work.
Portability and the DSUE Election
Electing to carry over a deceased spouse's unused exclusion: the return requirement, the late-election relief, the last-deceased-spouse limit, and when a bypass trust still wins.
Basis Planning and the Step-Up at Death
When income-tax basis dominates transfer-tax savings: IRC 1014 mechanics, the 1014(e) trap, causing deliberate inclusion, and partnership and community property planning.
Fiduciary Income Taxation of Trusts
Subchapter J in practice: DNI, the distribution deduction, simple versus complex trusts, grantor-trust status, the 65-day rule, and the cost of trapping income.
Estate Administration: Probate Through Closing
A sequenced administration framework: appointment, marshalling, creditor claims, tax filings, fiduciary liability, distribution, and discharge.
Medicaid and Long-Term Care Planning
Eligibility architecture, the transfer penalty and lookback, spousal impoverishment rules, permitted trusts, and estate recovery.
Life Insurance in the Estate Plan
Matching product to purpose, keeping proceeds out of the estate, ownership and beneficiary structures, and the traps that make a death benefit taxable.
The Noncitizen Spouse and the QDOT
Why the marital deduction is denied to a noncitizen spouse, the qualified domestic trust requirements, the deferred tax on distributions, and the lifetime gifting alternative.
Capacity, Undue Influence, and Will Contests
The capacity standards, the elements and presumptions of undue influence, contest-resistant execution practice, and no-contest clauses.
Powers of Appointment
General and nongeneral powers, presently exercisable and testamentary, the tax consequences of each, exercise mechanics, and their use as the flexibility engine of a modern trust.
Core Planning Instruments
The foundational documents — wills, revocable trusts, powers of attorney, and advance directives — and how they fit together.
Transfer Tax & Advanced Trusts
The unified estate, gift, and GST system plus the leveraged and freeze techniques that move value out of the taxable estate.
Special Situations
Planning that turns on the facts: special needs, retirement assets, blended families, business owners, digital assets, and creditor exposure.
Trust Funding & Asset Titling
The step every plan lives or dies on: deeds, beneficiary designations, assignments, and the retitling checklist that makes a trust real.
State-Law Dimensions
Where planning is jurisdiction-specific: execution formalities, marital property regimes, homestead, perpetuities, and decanting.
Practice & Ethics
Execution ceremonies, remote notarization, drafting pitfalls, review cadence, and the UPL and conflict lines that govern the work.
Interactive planning tools
A trust decision helper, a 2026 estate-tax exemption explorer, a state execution-formalities lookup, and working checklists — issue-spotting aids that link straight into the guides.
Open the toolsEducational reference, not legal advice. These materials are prepared for licensed attorneys and other professionals as a general reference. They are not legal advice, do not create an attorney-client relationship, and are not a substitute for independent research and professional judgment. Estate-planning law varies by state and changes over time; transfer-tax figures and statutory citations should be verified against current primary authority before you rely on them. Each resource shows a last-updated date. Estateur is not a law firm.