As I inch nearer to demise, I discover myself pondering extra about property tax planning and the possibly large tax invoice my household may face if we’re extraordinarily fortunate. To get forward of it, I dug into how an irrevocable life insurance coverage belief (ILIT) may assist households save massive on the so-called demise tax.
Image this:
A pair of their late 70s, let’s name them the Yamamotos, spent their complete lives saving and investing. They constructed a thriving small enterprise in Honolulu, purchased a couple of rental properties, and squirreled away some shares that did surprisingly nicely over the a long time. By the point they’re each gone, their property is value about $50 million.
Sounds just like the dream, proper? Besides there’s a nightmare twist: the IRS reveals up with a 40% property tax invoice on every part above the exemption quantity, which in 2025 is $13.99 million per particular person, or $27.98 million for a married couple.
Meaning the Yamamotos’ property owes roughly $8.8 million in taxes (40% of $22.02 million).
And right here’s the issue: a lot of the Yamamotos’ wealth is tied up of their enterprise and properties. The property doesn’t have $9 million in liquid money sitting round. To cowl the invoice, the executor could also be pressured right into a hearth sale, dumping belongings beneath market worth simply to lift money. Years of cautious constructing and household legacy can get ripped aside in a single swoop.
However there’s a greater means. As an alternative of scrambling to liquidate belongings underneath stress, households can use life insurance coverage to pay the invoice. And never simply any life insurance coverage coverage, however one wrapped neatly inside one thing known as an Irrevocable Life Insurance coverage Belief (ILIT).
Let me clarify why this is likely one of the most underappreciated property planning strikes the rich could make.
The Magic of the Irrevocable Life Insurance coverage Belief (ILIT)
Right here’s the monetary technique: As an alternative of proudly owning a life insurance coverage coverage in your individual title, you create an ILIT and have the belief personal the coverage. While you go away, the ILIT – not your property – collects the tax-free demise profit. The ILIT can then present liquidity to cowl property taxes or distribute what’s left to your heirs precisely as you instructed.
Why is that this so highly effective? As a result of any payout that goes into the ILIT is not counted as a part of your taxable property. Even if in case you have an enormous property and an enormous life insurance coverage payout, the IRS doesn’t get to double dip.
Let’s run some numbers:
Suppose our buddy Mr. Yamamoto has a $10 million life insurance coverage coverage inside an ILIT. If he owned that coverage himself, the payout would push his taxable property up one other $10 million. That’s one other $4 million evaporating into taxes ($10 million X 40% demise tax).
However with the ILIT in place? That very same $10 million coverage will get funneled into the belief, outdoors the IRS’s attain, and can be utilized to offer the property the liquidity it must pay the tax invoice. The household retains their actual property, their enterprise, their investments, and avoids a panic hearth sale. That’s an enormous win.
An ILIT succeeds in eradicating the insurance coverage from the property. It doesn’t deprive anyone of entry to something.
Flexibility: Beneficiaries, Trustees, and Even “Particular Associates”
One of many nice issues about ILITs is flexibility. You’ll be able to select nearly anybody because the beneficiary: children, grandkids, enterprise companions, even lifelong associates.
Traditionally, ILITs had been additionally a discreet means to offer for single companions or, let’s be trustworthy, “particular associates” outdoors of marriage. If a person had a particular buddy they wished to learn for at all times being there for them bodily and emotionally when their partner was not, life insurance coverage contained in the belief was a method you can care for that obligation.
Scandalous? Possibly. Sensible? Positively.
On a extra conventional observe, ILITs additionally allow you to add construction. Don’t need your grandkids blowing their inheritance on Bentleys and TikTok influencer gear? High-quality. You’ll be able to direct the trustee to launch cash just for school tuition or a down payment on a home.
You may as well shield heirs from collectors, divorce disputes, and even their very own unhealthy choices. Belief and life insurance coverage legal guidelines are robust in most states, and mixed collectively, they type a form of authorized protect.
Consider it as “cash with seatbelts.”
How an ILIT Truly Works
The setup must be exact to go IRS scrutiny. That is why you must speak to an estate planning lawyer that can assist you set it up. Right here’s the playbook:
- Create the ILIT – You (the grantor) arrange the belief and title a trustee. This must be “irrevocable” — which means as soon as it’s carried out, you may’t pull the cash again out for your self. A revocable living trust is one you may change.
- ILIT Buys the Coverage – As an alternative of you shopping for the life insurance coverage coverage, the belief buys and owns it. You fund the belief with money so it could possibly pay the premiums. Essential: Don’t switch an current coverage into the belief until you’re certain you’ll dwell at the very least three extra years. In any other case, the IRS will pull it again into your taxable property.
- Notify Beneficiaries (Crummey Notices) – While you put cash into the belief, beneficiaries technically have the correct to withdraw it. The trustee has to ship out “Crummey notices” (named after a taxpayer with nice timing and a humorous final title). Beneficiaries often don’t take the cash out, however the IRS requires this step for the belief to stay legit.
- Belief Pays Premiums – After the discover interval passes (often 30–60 days), the trustee makes use of the money to pay the coverage premiums.
- Dying Profit Supplies Liquidity – While you go away, the ILIT collects the demise profit. The trustee can then resolve use the funds: present liquidity to the property to cowl taxes, assist heirs, or each.
For instance, the ILIT may title your partner as the first beneficiary and your children as secondary beneficiaries. That means, your partner is taken care of, and no matter’s left passes to your youngsters freed from property tax when your partner later passes. Sensible layering.
Pitfalls and Cautionary Tales
Like most good issues in finance, ILITs include caveats:
- Neglect the Crummey notices and also you’re toast. One lawyer recalled a consumer who tried to backdate notices utilizing a laser printer, besides the notices predated the invention of laser printers. The IRS wasn’t impressed. End result: the ILIT was voided, and the belongings had been dragged again into the taxable property. Ouch.
- Be careful for outsized insurance policies. Don’t let a life insurance coverage salesman speak you into $40 million of protection in case your property plan reveals you solely want $10 million. Permanent life insurance is dear, and extra premiums can drain your liquidity.
- ILITs work finest with everlasting life insurance coverage. Time period life insurance policies often expire earlier than property taxes are due. However everlasting insurance policies (whole, universal, and many others.) price a hefty quantity in premiums. You’ve obtained to weigh whether or not the protection is value it.
- Tax legal guidelines change. As we speak’s $13.99 million per-person exemption may not final, regardless of the passage of The One Big Beautiful Bill Act on July 4, 2025. If the exemption falls again to ~$5 million, many extra households will probably be affected. Nonetheless, in case your internet value is more likely to develop, planning forward with an ILIT could make sense.
- No take-backs. When you lock cash into an ILIT, it’s gone for good. Some households remorse setting one up when instances get robust later. Or maybe you resolve to aggressively decumulate wealth by YOLOing and giving sufficient away to charity that you find yourself means underneath the property tax threshold while you die.
An ILIT Is Like A Stress Launch Valve
Property taxes are sometimes known as the “wealthy particular person’s downside.” However right here’s the fact: actual property appreciation, inventory market beneficial properties, and enterprise success can push households into taxable territory sooner than they anticipate.
For the Yamamotos, sitting on a $50 million property, the IRS’s reduce is almost $9 million. An ILIT is sort of a stress valve. It takes the uncertainty and panic out of the equation by guaranteeing there’s money out there to pay Uncle Sam with out dismantling the household legacy.
Is it excellent? No. It requires self-discipline, planning, and sometimes some hefty life insurance coverage premiums. However for households who need to keep away from a pressured hearth sale and preserve their wealth intact throughout generations, it’s probably the most sensible property planning instruments on the market.
As with all issues cash, the sooner you intend, the extra choices you’ve got. Don’t wait till you’re 78 together with your property executor staring down the barrel of a multimillion-dollar tax invoice. Speak to an property legal professional, run the numbers, and see if an ILIT matches into your plan.
As a result of in the event you don’t, the IRS may find yourself as your largest inheritor, they usually don’t even ship thank-you notes.
Reader Query And Strategies
Readers, do any of you’ve got an ILIT arrange inside an irrevocable belief? If that’s the case, how straightforward was it to create, and do you suppose it’ll be value it? Should you’re contemplating one, positively seek the advice of an property planning legal professional, as I am not one. At a minimal, be sure you’ve obtained a demise file, a revocable dwelling belief, or at the very least a will. Since demise is inevitable, it’s on us to plan forward so our heirs aren’t left scrambling as soon as we’re gone.
You’ll be able to take a look at Policygenius for a free, personalized quote. My spouse and I each used them to get matching 20-year time period life insurance coverage insurance policies at an reasonably priced value. The month-to-month premiums we pay are nicely value it for the peace of thoughts alone. With two younger youngsters and a remaining mortgage, having life insurance coverage is a non-negotiable a part of our property planning.
