IRS gives wealthy families more time to protect assets from estate tax

The federal government is giving widows and widowers more time to deal with the intricacies of estate tax after the death of a spouse.

When one of the spouses dies, his partner often inherits all or part of the deceased person’s estate. The surviving spouse receives these funds tax-free. They can also carry forward the deceased’s unused estate tax exclusion if they file a tax return and choose what the Internal Revenue Service calls portability.