My MIL died last week. Her husband had died decades ago, so her estate is being divided up by her three children. Apparently, she was rather well off, even though she lived frugally. I would hate to think that she did without so the government could have more.
I used to do some estate planning work.
If mom and pops start transfering small parts of an estate in nibbles it can be ‘gifted’ away.
Ie a 120,000 estate
gift away $12K in 1/10th increments of the deed /stocks etc to a trust not controlled by them, or to son, daughter etc.
so for that example, they would give away 1/10th of their estate per year until all of it has been ‘gifted’ away to the kids.
Or, if their health is good, have them take some of the money in savings and deposit it into a life insurance/long term care policy to cover the estate taxes.
There are a number of different ways to slice it up, but most involve an estate planning attorney, trusts being set up, etc.
FWIW...