A change in federal tax law took effect this year, and it quietly reshaped what sound estate planning looks like for many families. If your trust was drafted with the old exemption limits in mind, it may now be built around a problem that no longer exists. A short review can tell you whether your plan still does what you intended.

What Actually Changed

On January 1, 2026, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act took effect and raised the federal estate and gift tax exemption to $15 million per person, or $30 million for a married couple. Just as important, it removed the scheduled reduction that planners had spent years bracing for. The prior law was set to cut the exemption roughly in half at the end of 2025, and a great deal of planning was built around beating that deadline. That deadline is gone. The Internal Revenue Service confirmed the new figures in its 2026 inflation adjustments, and the 40 percent rate on amounts above the exemption stayed the same.

Why This Matters in Colorado

Colorado does not impose its own estate or inheritance tax, so for families here, the federal exemption is the number that counts. At $15 million per person, the large majority of Loveland households will owe no federal estate tax at all. That is welcome news, but it does not mean your planning is finished. It means the goal has moved.

The Shift From Gifting to Basis Planning

For years, the guidance for many higher-net-worth families was to give assets away early, moving them out of the estate before the exemption dropped. With the exemption now permanent and higher, that urgency has faded, and a different concern moves to the front. When you give an appreciated asset away during life, the person receiving it generally keeps your original cost basis. When they inherit it instead, the basis often resets to its value at your death, which can wipe out a large capital gains bill.

For families taking a fresh look at their plans, that shift changes the math in a few practical ways:

Assets rushed out of an estate may lose a valuable basis step-up at death
Irrevocable trusts created only to capture the old exemption may deserve a second look
Income and capital gains planning often matters more now than estate tax
Protecting assets from creditors and lawsuits can take on a larger role
Older trust formulas may divide property in ways that no longer fit the family

A Loveland, CO trust lawyer can read your existing documents against the current law and tell you which parts still serve you and which have quietly gone stale.

What to Do With an Older Trust

None of this means your trust is suddenly invalid. Many hold up fine. The point is that a plan written for a law that expected the exemption to fall may now aim at the wrong target. Formulas that made sense at a lower exemption can overfund one share and shortchange another, which tends to hit a surviving spouse hardest. A review does not commit you to an overhaul. Often it simply confirms your plan is sound, and when it is not, the changes tend to be manageable.

The team at W.B. Moore Law can look at your trust in light of the 2026 rules and flag anything worth updating before it becomes a problem for the people you named. If your documents predate this year, sitting down with a Loveland trust lawyer is a sensible way to confirm your plan still reflects both the law and your wishes.