The One Big Beautiful Bill Act's permanent $15 million estate and gift tax exemption ($30 million for married couples) has quietly upended the assumptions behind thousands of existing estate plans. Clients who purchased life insurance for estate tax liquidity — often inside irrevocable trusts — may no longer need it for that purpose, while others still have real income-tax-driven reasons to keep coverage in force. This session gives CFP® professionals and IARs a practical framework for revisiting legacy trust and insurance structures now that federal estate tax is a non-issue for the vast majority of clients: when and how to decant or restructure irrevocable trusts built for a lower-exemption world, options for repurposing unneeded life insurance (1035 exchanges to annuities or long-term care hybrids, sales in the life settlement market), and how to benchmark policy cost reasonableness using tools like Veralytic — plus why clients with large qualified plan balances may still need insurance for income tax liquidity.
Learning Objectives — participants will be able to:
- Explain how the OBBBA's permanent $15 million individual / $30 million married couple exemption changes the estate planning calculus for most clients, and identify which clients still need transfer-tax-focused planning.
- Evaluate when and how to decant, modify, or restructure irrevocable trusts drafted around a lower exemption environment, including issues specific to trust-owned life insurance.
- Compare repositioning strategies for unneeded life insurance — 1035 exchange to an annuity or long-term care hybrid product, sale in the life settlement market, or retention.
- Identify situations — particularly large qualified plan balances — where retaining life insurance still serves an income tax planning purpose despite the higher exemption.
- Apply objective cost-of-insurance benchmarking (e.g., Veralytic) in a fiduciary policy review.
Estate planning attorney Andrew Weinhaus is the managing member of The Law Office of Andrew Weinhaus, LLC, a Clayton, Missouri-based law firm. His practice focuses exclusively on estate planning, tax strategies, and business succession for closely-held entities.
Kevin Kimbrough is the Executive Director of Fiduciary Insurance Solutions with the Pinnacle Group.
With over 33 years of experience in the financial services industry, Kevin specializes in insurance, annuities, and long-term care planning. He collaborates closely with registered investment advisors, their teams, and clients to provide prudent, fiduciary-focused guidance on insurance solutions.