Those details will in large part determine who gets what. The tax treatment of inherited assets. Now, when inherited property is sold, the capital gain is based on the value of the property at the time of the death of the person who left it. The theory is that the estate paid any taxes due on the asset's increased value during the life of the person who died. Eliminate the estate tax, however, and that increased value would pass untaxed.
Many games are possible under such a system.
For example, children with highly appreciated assets could give them to parents shortly before the death of those parents. Then, when the assets were inherited, the children would escape paying capital gains taxes on their increased value. To avoid such schemes, any repeal of the estate tax would have to change the rules about paying capital gains on inherited property. Instead of windfalls, heirs could find themselves with large tax bills. The alternative minimum tax.