This is mainly for professionals, but if you have lost a loved one, you may want to look at it too. WHen the estate tax exclusion was increased to $5000000, The Deceased Spouse Unused Exclusion Amount must be elected to be moved to the surviving spouse without the use of an A-B trust arrangement (but I believe there may be times where you need to elect to move this even with and A – B Trust setup).
To make the election, you must file a form 706 even if one is not required! See the article attached:
http://www.advisorone.com/2011/10/15/portability-election-could-trigger-estate-tax-retu?utm_source=wealthmgmt91411&utm_medium=enewsletter&utm_campaign=wealthmgmt
Many thanks to Michael Long of Goldcoast Securities for emailing me this. www.gcsec.com clong@gcsec.com