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In recent years, when it came to thinking about passing wealth to their kids, many families waited to do their planning because of uncertainty about the estate tax. Congress let the tax expire for 2010 -- giving up an estimated
$23 billion in revenue -- but experts say it'll almost certainly be back next year. Still, wealthier Americans can take advantage of today's economic climate to improve their estate-planning outlook, regardless of when the tax comes back. Herb Daroff, a Boston estate planner, lists the fallout of the recent turmoil -- low interest rates, low asset values and, at least for a while longer, low tax rates -- and declares this "the greatest estate-planning opportunity I've seen in 36 years." His point: Conditions are ideal for passing on assets to heirs now, with minimal taxes.

What techniques make sense in this environment? One straightforward estate-planning tool is a simple gift, taking advantage of the annual $13,000 per person (or $26,000 per couple) gift exclusion. Some parents opt to give that gift in stock rather than cash, which lets the recipient enjoy the profit if stock prices rise. But after the 2009 surge in the market, other people may prefer to wait until death to pass along stocks that have risen sharply; with that arrangement, the recipient may be able to avoid paying taxes on some or all of the capital gains made while the parent owned the stock. "If you bought Microsoft stock for 50 cents a share, your kids will love you for this," says Tom Ochsenschlager, a VP at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Other increasingly popular options are sophisticated trusts that allow owners to transfer assets to their heirs. In a grantor-retain annuity trust, for example, much of the future growth in the value of, say, a small business or investment real estate happens beyond the reach of Uncle Sam.

Here's where low interest rates come in: The beneficiary gets all the appreciation minus a tax, known as the hurdle rate, which is tied to current interest rates. That rate is under 3 percent now, about half what it was a year ago.

Experts are also reminding folks in younger generations to get back to estate-planning basics, especially since 55 percent of Americans do not even have a will, according to LexisNexis. At minimum, a will should identify the people and organizations that the signer wants to inherit his or her property; it should also note guardians for minor children and an executor that will be in charge of carrying out the will's directions. A person who dies without a will dies intestate, which means the state government determines how his or her estate is settled. Nobody wants that -- it's the opposite of a plan.