Effective January 1, 2018, Delaware residents will no longer be subject to a state estate tax. Delaware becomes one of the thirty-three (33) states that do not impose either estate or inheritance taxes or both. The repeal is the result of Democratic Governor John Carney Jr. signing a stand-alone estate tax repeal bill. One estate lawyer commented “[t]he very wealthy don’t have to move down to Florida.” The Governor and legislature recognized that that if wealthy folks stay in Delaware, instead of changing their residency to avoid the state estate tax, the state will generate more revenue from personal income tax than estate taxes (high of $16.2 million in 2011, and a low of $1.3 million in 2014).
