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A lot of estate tax advice online is written to scare you. Here is the honest starting point instead: Florida has no state estate tax, and the federal exemption is now higher than ever. For the large majority of families, no federal estate tax will ever be owed.
Today, the federal estate tax exemption is $15 million per person, or $30 million for a married couple, and a 2025 law made that level permanent rather than letting it drop as it was once scheduled to. If your estate is comfortably under those numbers, this is mostly a weight off your shoulders, not a problem to solve.
But for families who are near or above the threshold, who own a business, or who have certain specific situations, estate tax planning still protects a great deal. At Weldon Law Group, PLLC, we help families across Jacksonville, Duval County, and Northeast Florida figure out honestly where they stand, and plan only where it genuinely helps. Attorney Ian Weldon and our team would rather tell you that you are fine than sell you something you do not need.
The first real question is simple: is your estate anywhere near the exemption? To answer it, add up everything you own, your home, retirement accounts, business interests, investments, and life insurance- because the full picture is what counts. Here are the numbers that matter for 2026.
Estate Tax Figure | Current Amount |
Federal exemption (individual) | $15 million |
Federal exemption (married couple) | $30 million |
Top federal estate tax rate | 40% |
Annual gift tax exclusion | 19,000perrecipient(38,000 for a married couple) |
Florida state estate tax | $0 |
The exemption is now permanent and indexed to inflation, so the old worry about it suddenly dropping is gone. You can review the federal rules on the IRS estate tax page. If your total is well below the exemption, you likely have little to worry about on federal estate tax. If you are close, or climbing toward it, the next sections are for you.
Plenty of families assume they are safely under the exemption, only to find they are not. A few common and often overlooked factors can quietly push an estate over the threshold.
This surprises almost everyone. The full death benefit of a life insurance policy you own is included in your taxable estate. A family that looks comfortably under the exemption on paper can be pushed over it by a large policy alone, unless that policy is owned the right way, such as through an irrevocable life insurance trust.
You might be under the threshold today and over it in fifteen years. A growing business, appreciating real estate, or a strong investment portfolio can carry a future estate well past the exemption. Planning looks at where your estate is heading, not just where it sits right now.
When one spouse dies, their unused exemption does not automatically carry over. Capturing it, through what is called portability, requires filing the right return on time. Families that miss this step can lose millions of dollars of protection without ever realizing it.
Setting the traps aside, there are clear situations where planning is worth doing regardless. It matters most when:
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For an estate that ends up over the exemption with no plan in place, the consequences are steep and fast. The federal estate tax is 40% of every dollar above the exemption, and it is generally due in cash within nine months of death.
That deadline is where families get hurt. To pay a tax bill that large, that quickly, an estate often has to sell the very things you wanted to keep in the family, a business, a piece of land, a home, sometimes at a discount because the clock is running. Planning is not about avoiding paperwork. It is about making sure your family is never forced to sell your legacy just to pay the government.
When planning is warranted, the tools are well established and effective. The point of each is the same: protect more of what you have built. We commonly use:
Each of these has to be coordinated with your will and the rest of your plan so nothing works against anything else.
Here is the counterintuitive part that trips up families trying to plan on their own. The instinct is to give assets away during your lifetime to shrink your estate. With the exemption set so high, that instinct can backfire. For most families, it creates a larger tax bill, not a smaller one.
When you hold an appreciated asset until death, your heirs inherit it at its full value as of that date. The capital gains that built up during your lifetime are wiped out, so if they sell it soon after, they owe little or no capital gains tax.
It is one of the most valuable breaks in the entire tax code. Most families now benefit from it far more than from estate tax planning.
Give that same asset away during your life, and the result flips. Your heir inherits your original cost, along with the built-in gain, and can owe a steep capital gains tax when they sell. The same home tells the whole story:
For a family comfortably under the exemption, holding appreciated assets to capture that step-up is often far better than giving them away. It is the opposite of the old advice to gift everything.
And because Florida has no state capital gains tax, the benefit here is purely federal. Which approach is right depends on your numbers, and that is exactly the kind of call we help families make.
These two are often confused, and they solve different problems. Estate tax protection is about the federal tax your estate may owe after you pass. Asset protection is about shielding what you own from creditors and lawsuits while you are alive. Many families need both, but a plan built for one does not automatically handle the other, which is why we look at them together.
Estate tax planning rewards honesty and foresight, and that is how we approach it. Families rely on Weldon Law Group, PLLC, for:
Whether you want reassurance that your family is in the clear or a real strategy for an estate that is near the threshold, it starts with one honest conversation. We will tell you where you stand and what, if anything, is worth doing. Reach out today to protect your legacy and give your family lasting peace of mind.
Question | Answer |
Does Florida have an estate tax or an inheritance tax? | No. Florida imposes neither a state estate tax nor an inheritance tax. The only estate tax that can apply to a Florida family is the federal one, and only on estates above the exemption. |
My estate is under $15 million. Do I need to do anything? | For federal estate tax, likely not. It is still worth a quick check if you own a business, a large life insurance policy, or property that is growing in value, since those can carry you toward the threshold over time. |
Can my spouse and I protect $30 million together? | Yes, a married couple can generally shield up to $30 million combined, but it is not fully automatic. Capturing both exemptions depends on proper planning and timely filings after the first spouse passes. |
Do I owe estate tax on money I inherit? | Generally no. The estate, not the person inheriting, is responsible for any federal estate tax, and Florida has no inheritance tax. Most people who receive an inheritance owe nothing on it. |
Will I owe gift tax if I give someone more than $19,000? | Almost certainly not right away. Going over the annual limit simply uses a small part of your $15 million lifetime exemption and requires a gift tax return. Actual gift tax is only owed once that lifetime amount is fully used up. |
Could the estate tax exemption drop again in the future? | A recent federal law set the $15 million exemption permanently and indexed it to inflation, so no decrease is currently scheduled. That said, a future Congress can always change the law, which is one reason flexible planning matters. |
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