Are you making gifts this year to family members or others? The annual exclusion for 2009 was increased to $13,000. That is the amount of property each person can give in 2009 to any recipient without Federal gift or estate tax consequences.

Is a state holding property for you? We recently found the State of Georgia was holding more than $7,000 in unclaimed property for one of our clients. To see if a state is holding unclaimed property for you, check online at www.missingmoney.com (Florida and many other states) or www.unclaimed.org (Georgia, New York and many other states).

Considering a loan or a sale of assets for a note to a family member? Applicable Federal Rates (“AFRs”) establish the minimum interest rate that must be charged to avoid gift tax consequences. The rates are set monthly by the IRS. The AFRs for August, while slightly higher than in recent months, are still some of the lowest rates we have ever seen. Interest rates for August on term loans with annual payments:

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Changes coming? President Obama has proposed a number of changes that could have a major impact on your estate planning. Time may be running out for some widely used estate planning tools, such as valuation discounts for certain types of family entities (like family limited partnerships) and short-term grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs). For more information contact one of our Estate Planning & Wealth Protection attorneys.