The $15 Million Estate Exemption Is Permanent. Here’s How to Use Every Dollar.

Uncertainty is a major disruptor to long-term financial planning. Thankfully, the OBBBA has addressed at least some of that dilemma. The sunset of the estate tax exemption was officially cancelled on July 4, 2025. The number is now permanently set at $15 million per person and $30 million for married couples. No expiration date. No cliff to fall off.  

Has your family's financial planning been frozen as you waited for Congress to act? That’s over. It’s time to move forward with confidence that the numbers won’t change after the next election cycle. Let’s take a look at exactly what that means.   

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) of 2025 used the framework created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) to create permanent changes to the tax code. Without that, the estate tax exemption would have dropped to roughly $7 million this year. Planning effectively under that kind of pressure is challenging. Asset transfers were rushed. Mistakes were made. 

Fast forward to 2026. The $15 million estate tax exemption is firmly in place, and it indexes for inflation starting in 2027. The top rate stays at 40%. Portability rules are unchanged. The step-up in basis after death is still intact. Mathematically, these are now constants, not variables, in the tax planning equation. This is the clearest the estate code has been in years.

How will you use your tax exemption? There are several mechanisms in place to ensure a smooth asset transfer. You have $15 million to work with. Here’s how you can deploy it.

A Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT) lets one spouse gift assets to an irrevocable trust. The other spouse is the beneficiary. This is a smart way to transfer assets away from the estate without losing access to them. Married couples could conceivably do this twice, but the IRS might flag it under the reciprocal trust doctrine. Ask your accountant how to avoid that. 

A Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT) is built for appreciating assets. The guidelines are complicated, but the bottom line is that you transfer assets to the trust and you receive an annuity back in return. If your assets outperform the IRS “hurdle rate,” your heirs will receive tax-free income. The hurdle rate is relatively low right now, so it’s a good time to do this. 

Here’s where it gets serious. A Nevada Domestic Asset Protection Trust does two things at once. It removes assets from your taxable estate. And it protects them from future creditors. In case you didn’t know, Nevada eliminates exception creditors on DAPTs after two years. That means ex-spouses and creditors cannot touch your money. 

Coupon clippers will understand this arithmetic. The lifetime estate tax exemption for couples is $30 million. On top of that, there’s an annual gift tax exclusion of $19,000 per person, which adds another $38,000 per couple. If you give that to your children annually for twenty years, you’re gifting them $760,000 tax-free. Hopefully, they use it wisely.  

Every dollar gifted today reduces the estate's future appreciation. There’s no clawback rule, meaning no one will try to recapture that tax revenue if the law changes, which is unlikely. That permanency matters for long-term planning. The OBBBA cements it in the tax code.   

This is the first full tax year with a permanent $15 million exemption. Families that delayed planning during the sunset uncertainty have a clean window right now. Use a SLAT to lock in the exemption. Layer in a GRAT for high-growth assets. Anchor the whole structure with a Nevada DAPT for protection. The tools are on the table. Now it’s about execution.