Benjamin Franklin said that nothing in life is certain except death and taxes. He was right. But when it comes to taxes, there is quite a bit you can do — if you plan ahead.
Estate tax planning is about making sure that when you transfer your assets to the people and causes you care about, you do it in a way that keeps the tax burden as low as possible. At MMB+CO, that is exactly what our estate tax planning team helps clients do, both during their lifetime and beyond.
What Estate Tax Planning Actually Means
A lot of people hear estate planning and think it only applies to the very wealthy. That is not true. Anyone who owns property, has a retirement account, runs a business, or wants to leave something behind for their family should have an estate plan in place.
The goal is straightforward: transfer your assets to the right people in the right way at the right time — while reducing what gets lost to federal and state taxes along the way.
What makes this complicated is that tax laws change. What worked five years ago may not be the best approach today. Life changes too – a marriage, a new grandchild, or the sale of a business. Your estate plan has to keep up with all of it.
That is why estate tax planning is not a one-time conversation. It is an ongoing process.
How MMB+CO Approaches Estate Tax Planning
The first step is always understanding what you are trying to accomplish. Do you want to pass your business to your children? Leave assets to a charity? Protect your spouse while keeping wealth in the family long-term? Every plan starts from your goals.
Once those goals are clear, the team works out how to structure your assets and transactions in the most tax-favourable way — both from an estate tax and an income tax standpoint. The two are connected, and a plan that only looks at one side of the equation can create problems on the other.
MMB+CO also works alongside clients on international tax issues when assets or beneficiaries cross borders. That coordination matters because an estate plan built only around U.S. rules can fall short when there are international elements involved.
Estate Tax Planning Services MMB+CO Provides
MMB+CO works with clients on the full range of estate planning tools. Here is what that typically includes:
Planned charitable giving — If giving to a charity is part of your plan, there are ways to structure those gifts that reduce your taxable estate at the same time. The right approach depends on your goals, the type of assets you are giving, and the timing.
Family business transition planning — Passing a business to the next generation is one of the more complex estate-planning situations. It involves not just the tax side, but also questions of ownership, control, and fairness among family members. Getting this right takes careful planning, and it usually needs to start well before any transition happens.
Family limited partnerships — These are used to transfer assets to family members in a structured way. One advantage is that they can allow for discounted valuations, which reduces the size of the taxable estate.
Bypass trusts – also called 'credit shelter trusts', these are designed so that a married couple can make full use of both spouses' estate tax exemptions. Without this structure, one exemption can effectively go to waste when the first spouse dies.
QTIP trusts — A Qualified Terminable Interest Property trust allows a surviving spouse to receive income from the trust assets during their lifetime while the underlying assets are preserved for children or other beneficiaries. This is useful in second marriage situations or when you want to control how assets are ultimately distributed.
Personal residence trusts — A Qualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT) lets you transfer your home out of your taxable estate at a reduced gift tax value while you retain the right to live there for a set number of years. It is a practical tool for people whose home is a major part of their estate.
Defective grantor trusts — These trusts allow you to move assets out of your estate without triggering capital gains tax at the time of transfer. The income tax treatment is what makes them defective in the technical sense, but that feature is actually what makes them useful.
Survivor's Notebook — This is a practical document that gives your executor and family members everything they need when the time comes: account information, key contacts, important documents, and instructions. Having this in place makes the administration of your estate significantly easier for the people you leave behind.
Tax return preparation — MMB+CO handles federal and state estate tax returns, gift tax returns, and fiduciary income tax returns. Accurate filing matters, and so does making sure all available elections and deductions are properly claimed.
Why Keeping Your Plan Current Matters
Tax law does not stay still. Federal estate tax exemptions, gift tax annual limits, and state-level rules all shift over time. A plan built around today's rules may need to be adjusted as those rules change. The same goes for changes in your own life — assets you acquire, family members who are born or pass away, and a business you sell.
MMB+CO works with clients over time, not just at the beginning. The goal is to make sure the plan reflects both where the law stands and where your life stands, whatever year it happens to be.
Who MMB+CO Works With
MMB+CO serves individuals, families, and business owners across New York State from offices in Rochester, Elmira, Canandaigua, Latham, and Queensbury. Clients range from people planning for the first time to those revisiting plans they put in place years ago.
The work is personal. Estate planning involves your family, your finances, and your intentions for the future. MMB+CO takes that seriously.
As one Rochester tax client put it, productive and timely feedback on questions and issues. Always a pleasure to deal with MMB+CO.
Talk to an estate tax planning professional.
If you have not reviewed your estate plan recently — or you do not have one — it is worth having the conversation sooner rather than later. Tax rules change, and so does the cost of waiting.
MMB+CO's estate tax planning team is available to walk through your situation and help you figure out the right approach. Reach out through the contact page to set up a time to talk.
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