November brought with it changes to California’s real property taxation laws. Proposition 19 passed narrowly and modified laws which were already on the books. Let’s take a look at the old rules and then how the new rules will work.

In many places in California, real property has been sky-rocketing in price in the last several decades. Having real property reassessed with regard to taxes could bring with it hefty tax bills; laws were put into place to curtail the rising tax issues.

Proposition 13 has been law in California since 1978, as an amendment to their Constitution. Proposition 13 dictated that the rate of increase of property assessments would be tied to an inflation factor and could not be greater than 2 percent each year. Also, it provided a limit on property taxes to 1 percent of the assessed value. Finally, it prohibited a reassessment on real property unless there was a change in ownership or the home was new construction.

National Estate Planning Awareness Week is October 19-25, 2020. To celebrate, let’s take a look at some recent case law that deals with a mutual will and a subsequent, traditional will.

A mutual will is one that is binding upon the Testator. Each Testator, usually married couples, those in a committed relationship, or ex-spouses, each draft a mutual will and the survivor cannot change its terms. But what happens when the survivor executes a subsequent will with different terms? Which one controls? How would a practitioner go about helping a client enforce a mutual will?

In Badgley v. United States, the 9^th Circuit upheld summary judgment in favor of the IRS in a case regarding the legality of including the entire grantor-retained annuity trust (GRAT) value in a decedent’s estate for purposes of the estate tax under 26 U.S.C. § 2036(a)(1).

A GRAT is an irrevocable trust that meets the requirements of 26 U.S. Code § 2702. A GRAT is usually used to transfer appreciating assets to the next generation with minimal taxes due. When property is transferred to the GRAT, then such property is subject to gift taxes on the present value of the GRAT’s remainder interest, in accordance with 26 U.S. Code § 7520. A reduction in the gift value of trust property is permitted if the grantor retains an annuity interest in the trust. However, if the beneficiary is a family member, then the annuity interest must be a qualified interest under §2702. Trust property can be transferred to the beneficiary without gift tax implications by modifying the trust term and annuity amount in a way as to zero out any remainder. But what about estate taxes if the grantor dies during the annuity payout period?