On my plane ride home last Friday I found out that I was quoted in the January edition of Financial Advisor magazine http://bit.ly/x2HAZ2 It was in an article on state death taxes and I found out by actually reading the article and seeing my name and the associated quotes. Finding out that way was a strange experience for me.
Some states have estate taxes, some have inheritance taxes, and some, like the great State of New Jersey, have both. The writer asked how much the differing state tax systems played a role in clients’ choice of where to live, especially heading into retirement. In my experience, state death taxes have really only played a minor role at best in making those types of decisions. People have usually told me that lower death taxes were a nice bonus in making the move, but no one has ever told me it was the deciding factor.
It’s hard to know if more people might be guided by those tax decisions. Most people actually don’t know how those taxes might affect them, other than having some vague notions, until they actually do estate planning, and as I have repeated incessantly, most people don’t do estate planning, so we’ll never know. If you aren’t sure what the death taxes are in your state, give me a call or send me an email, and I’ll be glad to give you the info. If you get the info and decide to move, be sure to let me know!
