At the start of the 18th century, English landowners set up estates along Moriches Bay.
Early in the 12th century, Venice acquired some villages near Tyre and set up estates to produce sugar for export to Europe, where it supplemented honey, which had previously been the only available sweetener.
For people who are setting up estate plans, or updating existing ones, not knowing what proposal will emerge might be temptation to take a wait-and-see approach.
"We mostly sell to families who have come here for their holidays," said Grigory Bekishev, a Russian who set up an estate agency in Salou on the Costa Dorada.
If Congress fails to act again this year, the estate tax laws next year will revert to their levels before 2001, and that could snare a host of people who set up the estate plans on the assumption that there would be no tax when they died.
As Paul has written before, the increase in taxes this year is prompting many people to make taxes their priority — it's determining what to invest in or how to set up their estate or buying life insurance — when taxes should be only one factor in the decision.
The events planner sends customized invites, while a homepage creator helps you set up real estate on the Net.
There are a variety of ways to set up an estate plan so that it maintains a tax-efficient transfer of wealth.
"If I knew this was how my mom wanted to set up her estate plan, I wouldn't resent it," Astor insists.
Consider this example from attorney Choate, author of Life and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits, who recently set up an estate plan using this technique: A husband and wife are 73 and 71, respectively.
