[ElDiabloJoe]

My neighbor up north is an elderly woman. She has three adult children and wishes to split her estate up evenly amongst them. While sitting on a very healthy high 6-digits in various savings accounts and a paid off house, she is also sitting on an ever climbing 900,000 in investment funds with a large national advising firm.

While she understands she can give $18,000 a year to each without penalty incurred by any party, the is entertaining the idea of disbursing her 900,000 prior to death. This is due to her concern about the way the world is going, the wars, economic instability, dollar de-valuation, inflation, etc.

While under Trump there was something about up to 20 Million could be inherited without tax or fee consequence, she asked me about whether or not she could disburse the 900,000 without incurring any fees or tax consequences to her or the recipient children.

My amateur opinion is that the $300,000 each would be a taxable income event unless it were inheritance doled out after she passed away. That would cost each recipient approximately $65,000 in taxes (assuming combined Fed and State rate of 25%).

Are my initial thoughts on this accurate, or are there additional considerations and fiscal dynamics that would be at play in her scenario?