The unlimited marital tax deduction makes this long-shot strategy possible. Relatively few people are able to carry out any except the last portion of this game plan, but that isn't the point. Far more people think, or hope, they will. The bigger the estate, the bigger the tax liability. Not only that, but the heirs usually can't just bite the bullet and write a big check from the estate's assets.
Many sizable estates are far from liquid.
The less liquid they are, the bigger the potential problem for the heirs. Survivorship life, which is payable at the second death, provides funds to the heirs which can be used to handle this estate tax liability as well as other obligations at the second death. The accountant for the shocked clients called Mann's firm. We wrote a policy that would cover enough of their expected tax liability so that they felt comfortable. ITT Hartford, the company that provided the coverage for this sale, is a major player in the market for survivorship life and other estate planning products.