As many know by now, the OBBBA was signed into law on July 4, 2025. As a very general observation, the OBBBA makes the provisions of the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TCJA) permanent and enacts many of the campaign promises President Trump made during his run for office in 2024. This short note shares one key update for many in the trusts and estates industry that will have a big impact on estate planning and trust funding discussions for families and their family offices.
Enter the Estate and Gift Tax Update: Here is a quick set of comments that family office leadership (and private trust company leadership) should be keeping in mind.
The lifetime exclusion amount is going up to $15 million. The federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax exclusion amount will permanently increase to $15 million per individual (or $30 million for married couples), effective January 1, 2026, and will be indexed for inflation thereafter. The indexing is based on changing conditions, adjusted annually, and is typically announced by the IRS in October of each year.
This significant and taxpayer-favorable change enhances opportunities for multigenerational wealth transfer, particularly through the use of dynasty trusts and other advanced estate planning and gifting vehicles that would benefit from increased the increased gift and estate tax lifetime exemption.
With the removal of the sunset provision that previously threatened to reduce exemption levels, family offices and high-net-worth individuals are encouraged to revisit their estate plans, the structures in place, and strategies used to calibrate (or re-calibrate) according to these expanded exemptions and ensure long-term tax efficiency and legacy preservation goals are met.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
