The Gift of Giving Now

For years, the conversation about passing on wealth was shaped by a single, pressing question: Will the exemption sunset? That urgency is behind us. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025, permanently set the federal estate and gift tax exemption at $15 million per individual ($30 million for married couples), with no expiration date.¹

With the framework settled, the more meaningful question has arrived: not when to act, but why to act now, while you are here to see it.

There Is Something Irreplaceable About Giving While You Are Living. Wealth transferred at death is generous. Wealth shared during your lifetime is something else entirely. You get to see it arrive. You watch a grandchild start college, a daughter launch her business, and a cause you believe in grow. That is not a small thing.

Giving while living also allows you to be intentional in real time. You can direct resources where they are needed most, adjust as circumstances change, and stay involved in the decisions that matter to you. A gift made at death is fixed. A gift made today is a conversation. 

A Few Ways Lifetime Gifting Works. How you give matters as much as how much you give. Several approaches are worth understanding as you think through what a lifetime gifting strategy might look like for your family.

Annual gifting is the simplest starting point. The annual gift tax exclusion allows you to give up to $19,000 per recipient in 2026 ($38,000 for married couples) without touching your lifetime exemption.¹

Now Is a Good Time to Look at the Whole Picture. With a permanent exemption in place and no sunset clock running, there is space now to think clearly rather than reactively. Whether you have not yet started this conversation or revisited it since the law changed; it is worth a fresh look.

Coordinating a lifetime gifting approach involves your broader financial picture, and it often works best when your financial professional, your tax advisor, and your legal counsel are all part of the same conversation.

^{1. Nelson Mullins,  February, 2026}