Also pay attention to the new death tax provision. The exclusion goes from 5 Million to 1 Million with a 55% tax rate for everything over the 1 million. And believe me, the IRS accounts for everything when placing a value on your estate.
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By putting the estate in a trust one avoids this, yes?
A bypass trust is one way to avoid this. I am trying to get the warning out especially to people who don’t know what their net worth is. Also, your other question about when the AMT kicks in, it will apply to anyone making over $45K and will apply to income made in 2013. A huge pile of tax increases kick in on Jan 1 of ‘13, but the pain won’t be realized until April of ‘14.