At this level, the tax code is the biggest line item.

A Spousal Lifetime Access Trust lets one spouse gift assets — often a cash-value life insurance policy — into an irrevocable trust benefiting the other spouse. Assets grow outside the taxable estate while the household retains practical access through the beneficiary spouse. It’s a cornerstone technique for using today’s estate exemption before any future reduction.

Legitimate but unforgiving — borrowing to fund large policies works when interest rates, crediting rates, and exit strategy are stress-tested honestly, and fails when they’re not. We model it conservatively and tell you plainly when the answer is no.

Exemption law changes, a business sale, a move, a death, or simply policy performance drifting from the original illustration. A review costs nothing, and any of those events is a reason to check the plan against current law and current policy values.