March 27, 2014

As we told you a week ago, in addition to federal estate taxes, state estate taxes form a crazy quilt of different rules across the country. So much so that Forbes Magazine recently published an article on “Where Not To Die in 2014.”

Any guesses as to which state is the worst?

That’s right. New Jersey. Runner-up: Maryland. Both states impose not only an estate tax, but also an inheritance tax. As the Forbes article states:

“New Jersey, for example, imposes an estate tax between 4.2% and 16% on estates above $675,000, and an inheritance tax of between 11% and 16% on assets left to a sibling, nephew, niece or friend, but no inheritance tax on money left to parents, children or grandchildren. (Any estate tax owed is reduced by the inheritance tax paid.)”

See? We told you it’s a mess. That’s the bad news. The good news is that you can do something about it if you go see a competent estate planning attorney before it’s necessary.