From new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) life expectancy tables for required minimum distributions to lowered reporting thresholds for third-party payment networks, we have recently seen significant developments in estate planning and business law. To ensure that you stay abreast of these legal changes, we have highlighted some noteworthy developments and analyzed how they may impact your estate planning and business law practice.

Powers of appointment are useful estate planning tools that allow the grantor of the power to choose someone they trust to instruct the fiduciary in control of the assets to redirect the distribution of the assets from their estate or trust. This distribution can take place many years after the grantor’s death.

Clients want their estates to grow until it is tax time—when they want to give the Internal Revenue Service as small a target as possible. While the federal wealth transfer tax exemptions run into the millions of dollars, some clients’ estates exceed these amounts and result in large estate tax bills. Fortunately, several methods are available to reduce the amount of a client’s estate for tax purposes. Here are ten strategies to limit your client’s exposure.