The Deadline Every Married Person (And Financial Advisor) Needs To Know About

There is [an important new financial strategy] married people may only need once in their lives. It has a very strict deadline. Miss it, and the opportunity will be lost.  

No, this isn’t a riddle from the Great Sphinx. It involves a tax break for widows and widowers that was made permanent by the American Taxpayer Relief Tax Act of 2012 after a two-year introductory period.

Starting for deaths in 2011, and now going forward, they can carry over the estate tax exemption of the spouse who died most recently and add it to their own. Portability, as tax geeks call it, allows married couples to transfer $5.25 million apiece ($10.5 million together) tax-free.