Estate Planning Guides
Plain-language guides on estate planning, probate, and tax-saving strategies. Not legal advice, see a qualified estate planning attorney for your situation.
According to the Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income, estate-tax returns are filed only for estates above the federal exemption, which the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made a permanent $15,000,000 per person effective 2026 (signed July 4, 2025). These guides explain how that exemption, the 40% federal top rate, and the rules of the 13 states (plus DC) that levy their own estate tax fit together, drawing on the Tax Foundation 2024 survey and official federal data. See our methodology for the full source list.
Exemption ≠ top rate
Connecticut is #1 of 13 estate-tax states by exemption ($15M, top rate rank #12 at 12%) ≠ Hawaii (largest of 2) #1 by top rate (20%, exemption rank #4 at $5.5M).
- $15M
- Connecticut exemption (#1)
- #12
- Connecticut rate rank
- 20%
- Hawaii top rate (#1)
- #4
- Hawaii exemption rank
Exemption is the estate value below which no state estate tax applies; top rate is the marginal rate on amounts above the highest bracket. Both from published state tax statutes.
Estate Planning Basics
Fundamentals of estate administration: wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, and published document roles.
How Probate Works
Published probate process: filing steps, executor duties, court timelines, and fee schedules from state sources.
Probate-avoidance instruments
Published probate-avoidance instruments: living trusts, TOD/POD designations, joint ownership, and small-estate affidavits.
2026 estate-tax exemption made permanent
TCJA sunset repealed: One Big Beautiful Bill Act set a permanent $15M federal estate-tax exemption. What changed.
Community Property vs. Common Law States
How published state property systems affect estate administration, taxes, and the double step-up in basis.
Gift Tax Explained
The $18,000 annual exclusion, the permanent $15M lifetime exemption, and how gifts reduce the estate-tax exemption.
Types of Trusts for Estate Planning
IRS/UTC trust categories: revocable, irrevocable, bypass, QTIP, charitable, and special-needs, with published purpose.
Methodology
Our guides are based on publicly available data from authoritative government sources. All statistics, ratings, and figures cited in these guides are drawn directly from official datasets and publications, with sources clearly referenced throughout.
We aim to present complex government data in plain language that is accessible to general audiences. When methodologies differ between data sources or change over time, we note these variations inline. Guides are dated and updated when the underlying public data is refreshed.
Every figure on PlainEstate is rendered directly from IRS Statistics of Income and state statutory data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on IRS Statistics of Income and state statutory data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, the data changelog, or report a data error about this page.
Download the 51-jurisdiction estate-tax registry cited on this page: estate-tax-registry.csv (CC BY 4.0).