Do you have an estate plan? A will? Humans are funny as we tend to put getting a will or having an Estate plan done until there is a crisis in our lives. Like a diagnosis. A new grandchild. The sale of a home in Bethesda. The death of a friend who left no will and a family left sorting through the pieces. Montgomery County families have particular reasons to move this work up the list, because Maryland law and local property values combine in ways that catch people off guard.
Maryland taxes estates at a much lower threshold than the federal government. Who knew?
Family business estate planning attorney Bethesda, MD Most don't know that the federal estate tax exemption rose to $15 million per person on January 1, 2026, which leads many people to assume estate tax is somebody else's problem. Maryland tells a different story. The state exemption sits at $5 million per person and has not moved since 2019. It is not indexed for inflation, so it quietly shrinks in real value every year. In Chevy Chase, Potomac, Kensington, and downtown Bethesda, a longtime residence, a retirement account, and a life insurance policy can reach that number faster than most homeowners expect.
Estate planning for real estate investors Maryland does allow a surviving spouse to use the unused portion of the first spouse's exemption. That benefit is not automatic. A Maryland estate tax return has to be filed on time after the first death to preserve it. Miss the deadline and the opportunity disappears for good.
Did you know there are two types of taxes? Maryland is also one of the few states with both an estate tax and an inheritance tax. The inheritance tax is a flat 10 percent on property passing to people outside the exempt circle. Spouses, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, siblings, and charities are exempt. Nieces, nephews, cousins, close friends, and unmarried partners are not. If you intend to leave something to a favorite nephew or a lifelong friend, that 10 percent belongs in the conversation now rather than later.
Probate in Rockville is workable, but it is public and slow
What you need to know. Estates here are administered through the Register of Wills for Montgomery County at the Judicial Center in Rockville. Maryland opens an estate as a small estate when probate assets total $50,000 or less, or $100,000 or less when the surviving spouse is the sole heir. Anything above those figures becomes a regular estate, which brings formal notices, an inventory, accountings, and a timeline that commonly runs nine months to well over a year.
Probate is not a catastrophe, but it costs money, it takes time, and the file is open to anyone who wants to read it. A revocable living trust, combined with careful titling and current beneficiary designations, keeps most assets out of that process and gives your family a private path forward.
The documents that matter while you are still living
Think about this. A will only speaks after death. The documents that protect you during a hospital stay or a long illness are the financial power of attorney and the Maryland advance directive naming a health care agent. Without them, your family may have to petition the Circuit Court for Montgomery County for guardianship, an expensive and public proceeding that good planning avoids entirely. Parents of young children should also name a guardian in their will rather than leaving that decision to a judge.
Review your plan every few years
It is important to review every few years. Life shifts. Divorces happen. A family grows. People die. Plans go stale. Beneficiary designations on a 401(k) outlive marriages. Trusts get signed and never funded. Maryland thresholds and federal law both shifts. A review every three to five years, and after any major life event, keeps the plan matched to the life you actually have.
