Federal and State level estate taxes.

An estate (death) tax taxes your estate on the transfer of assets you owned at your death. Most people are not presently concerned about the federal estate tax as the threshold for federal estate tax is a decedent’s estate with a net worth of at or above around the application exclusion amount of 14 million dollars. California, however, does not itself have a state imposed estate tax. Many residents in California are unaware that because they also own assets located in other states that such assets may become subject to a state level estate tax when they die. Let us discuss some basic facts about the estate tax at each of the federal and state levels.