Sandy Springs Estate Planning After a Major Inheritance

Receiving a major inheritance changes everything. One day you’re managing your own finances, and the next you’re responsible for a new home near the Chattahoochee River, a brokerage account, or a share of a family business just north of I-285 in Sandy Springs. That kind of sudden wealth is a gift, but it also comes with real legal and financial responsibilities. If you don’t act quickly, you risk losing a portion of that inheritance to taxes, creditors, or family disputes. Working with an Atlanta estate planning lawyer right after an inheritance gives you the best chance of protecting what you’ve received and building something lasting for your own family.

Table of Contents

• What Happens to Your Estate Plan the Moment You Inherit
• Understanding the Tax Picture After a Major Inheritance
• Trusts as the Right Tool After a Sudden Wealth Event
• Updating Beneficiary Designations and Asset Titling
• Protecting Your Inheritance From Future Risks
• FAQs About Sandy Springs Estate Planning After a Major Inheritance

What Happens to Your Estate Plan the Moment You Inherit

A major inheritance doesn’t just add money to your bank account. It reshapes your entire financial picture. If you already had a will, a revocable living trust, or beneficiary designations in place, those documents now reflect an outdated version of your wealth. The assets you’ve inherited need to be accounted for, titled correctly, and integrated into your existing plan. Failing to do that creates gaps that Georgia probate courts will fill in ways you may not like.

Under O.C.G.A. § 53-2-1, Georgia’s intestate succession law determines who inherits your property if you die without a valid will. If you receive a large inheritance and then pass away without updating your estate plan, your newly acquired assets will be distributed according to that statute, not according to your wishes. That could mean a spouse, children, and other relatives all receiving shares you never intended for them to have in those proportions.

Think about what that means practically. Say you inherited a rental property near Roswell Road and a significant investment account from a parent. If you have minor children and no updated trust, those assets could end up in a court-supervised conservatorship when you die, with a judge controlling how the money is spent until your children turn 18. That’s not a plan. That’s a default. Updating your estate documents immediately after an inheritance is the single most important step you can take to protect what you’ve received.

Slowik Estate Planning, located in Atlanta, Georgia, works with Sandy Springs residents who have just received an inheritance and need to integrate those assets into a clear, legally sound plan. The firm’s approach is straightforward: review what you have, identify the gaps, and build a structure that reflects your actual goals.

Understanding the Tax Picture After a Major Inheritance

One of the first questions people ask after receiving an inheritance is whether they owe taxes on it. The short answer, under federal law, is generally no. According to IRS Publication 559, a person who receives a gift or bequest from an estate does not owe federal gift tax or estate tax on the value received. You also won’t owe income tax on the inheritance itself. That’s welcome news for most Sandy Springs residents who inherit a parent’s home near Hammond Drive or a portfolio of stocks.

However, the income those inherited assets generate going forward is absolutely taxable. If you inherit a rental property and collect rent, that income is yours to report. If you sell inherited stock, the capital gains calculation starts from the asset’s fair market value on the date of the original owner’s death, not the original purchase price. This “stepped-up basis” rule can be enormously valuable. For example, if a parent bought stock for $10 per share decades ago and it was worth $25 per share at death, your cost basis as the heir is $25, meaning you owe no capital gains on that appreciation.

On the estate tax side, the federal exemption in 2026 stands at $15 million per individual, up from $13.99 million in 2025, thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law on July 4, 2025. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the $15 million gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemption is now permanent and indexed annually for inflation. That means most Sandy Springs families won’t owe federal estate tax. But if your inheritance pushes your total estate above that threshold, you need a strategy. The federal gift and estate tax rate is 40% on amounts exceeding the available exemption. Georgia does not impose a separate state estate tax or inheritance tax, which is a significant advantage for Georgia residents compared to states like Massachusetts or New York.

Consulting with a qualified estate tax planning lawyer after a major inheritance is not optional if your new total estate is approaching the federal threshold. The difference between a well-structured plan and no plan can be millions of dollars.

Trusts as the Right Tool After a Sudden Wealth Event

When a major inheritance arrives, a trust is often the most effective structure for managing and protecting those assets. Trusts aren’t just for the ultra-wealthy. They’re practical tools for any Sandy Springs resident who wants to control how inherited property is used, protected, and eventually passed on. If you’ve inherited a home off Glenridge Drive, a business interest, or a substantial investment account, a trust gives you options that a simple will simply cannot provide.

A revocable living trust lets you hold inherited assets in a structure that avoids probate entirely. Georgia probate proceedings at the Fulton County Probate Court can take months and become public record. A trust keeps the details of your estate private and allows your assets to transfer to your beneficiaries without court involvement. You remain in control of the trust during your lifetime and can change it at any time.

An irrevocable trust serves a different purpose. Once you transfer inherited assets into an irrevocable trust, those assets generally fall outside your taxable estate and outside the reach of most creditors. This matters especially if your inheritance has pushed your estate to a level where asset protection is a real concern. Irrevocable trusts can also be used to fund charitable giving, provide for a spouse, or create a structure for generational wealth transfer to your children and grandchildren.

If you inherited assets that include business interests, the trust structure becomes even more important. A trust can hold those interests, provide for orderly management, and prevent disputes among your own heirs down the road. Trusts can be used to manage assets during life and transfer them after death without going through probate. Working with a knowledgeable trust attorney allows you to choose the right type of trust for your specific inherited assets and long-term goals.

Slowik Estate Planning helps clients in Sandy Springs evaluate which trust structure fits their situation. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, and the right choice depends on the type of assets you’ve inherited, your family structure, and your goals for protecting and passing on that wealth.

Updating Beneficiary Designations and Asset Titling

An inheritance often includes assets that pass outside of a will entirely. Life insurance proceeds, retirement accounts, and payable-on-death bank accounts all transfer directly to named beneficiaries, regardless of what your will says. If your beneficiary designations haven’t been updated in years, those assets may not go where you want them to go. This is one of the most common and most costly mistakes people make after receiving a major inheritance.

Consider a straightforward example. You inherit $300,000 from a parent’s life insurance policy. You deposit it into a new brokerage account. If you don’t name a beneficiary on that account, and you don’t have a trust or will that addresses it, that account will go through probate when you die. Probate in Fulton County takes time and costs money. More importantly, if you have minor children, a court could end up controlling those funds rather than a trusted family member you would have chosen yourself.

Asset titling matters just as much. How you hold title to inherited real estate, for example, determines what happens to it when you die. Joint tenancy with right of survivorship passes the property automatically to the surviving co-owner. Tenancy in common means your share goes through your estate. Under IRS Publication 559, one-half of jointly owned property between spouses is included in the decedent’s gross estate, regardless of who paid for it. Understanding how your inherited assets are titled helps you make smart decisions about how to hold them going forward.

Georgia also allows transfer-on-death deeds for real estate. Georgia has transfer-on-death (TOD) deeds, which name a beneficiary to receive your home when you die without probate. If you have a TOD deed and are the sole owner of your house, it will pass to the person named in the TOD deed. However, the person inheriting the house must file a specific affidavit with the superior court within nine months of the owner’s death, or the house will become part of the owner’s probate estate. Reviewing and updating every beneficiary designation and title document after an inheritance is essential, and Slowik Estate Planning can walk you through that process from its Atlanta, Georgia office.

Protecting Your Inheritance From Future Risks

Receiving a large inheritance also means you have more to lose. Creditors, lawsuits, divorce proceedings, and even poor financial decisions by your own beneficiaries can erode what took a lifetime to build. Sandy Springs residents who have inherited significant assets need to think about asset protection as part of their estate plan, not as an afterthought.

Georgia law offers several tools for protecting inherited wealth. A properly structured irrevocable trust can shield assets from future creditors. A spendthrift provision inside a trust prevents a beneficiary from assigning their interest to a creditor before they receive a distribution. If you’re passing on inherited assets to your own children, a trust with a spendthrift clause protects those funds from your child’s creditors, divorcing spouse, or financial mistakes.

If you inherited assets from a parent who had a complex estate, you may also need to understand how excess deductions and loss carryovers work. Under IRS Publication 559, when an estate terminates, unused loss carryovers and excess deductions are allocated to successor beneficiaries according to each person’s share of the burden of those losses. This means your inherited assets could come with tax attributes that affect your own returns for years to come. Understanding that picture requires careful coordination between your estate plan and your tax strategy.

The generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax is another factor worth knowing about. The generation-skipping transfer tax exemption, which applies to transfers to grandchildren and other “skip” persons, also rises to $15 million. If you’ve inherited wealth and want to pass it directly to grandchildren or into a dynasty trust, the GST exemption gives you significant room to do so without triggering additional federal tax. Planning for that kind of multigenerational transfer requires careful legal structuring, and it’s exactly the kind of work Slowik Estate Planning handles for families across the Sandy Springs and greater Atlanta area.

Don’t wait until a crisis forces your hand. Whether you’ve just inherited a home near Abernathy Road, a business interest, or a seven-figure investment portfolio, the time to build your updated plan is now. Reach out to Slowik Estate Planning in Atlanta, Georgia to schedule a consultation and put a real structure in place for everything you’ve worked and waited to receive.

FAQs About Sandy Springs Estate Planning After a Major Inheritance

Do I owe income tax on an inheritance I receive in Georgia?

Generally, no. Under federal law, the value of property you receive as a gift or bequest from an estate is not subject to federal income tax, gift tax, or estate tax at the time you receive it. Georgia also does not impose a state inheritance tax or estate tax. However, any income those inherited assets generate after you receive them, such as rent, dividends, or capital gains from a sale, is taxable to you. The stepped-up basis rule can significantly reduce capital gains taxes when you sell inherited property, because your cost basis is set at the asset’s fair market value on the date of the original owner’s death.

How does a major inheritance affect my existing estate plan?

A major inheritance can make your existing will, trust, and beneficiary designations outdated almost immediately. The new assets need to be titled correctly, integrated into your trust if you have one, and accounted for in your beneficiary designations. If your estate plan was built around a smaller estate, it may not address asset protection strategies, tax planning, or generational wealth transfer that now apply to your situation. Reviewing and updating your plan with an estate planning attorney shortly after receiving an inheritance is the responsible step to take.

What is the federal estate tax exemption in 2026, and does it affect my inherited assets?

The federal estate tax exemption in 2026 is $15 million per individual, or $30 million for married couples. This means your own estate, including assets you’ve inherited, must exceed $15 million before federal estate tax applies. Georgia does not have a separate state estate tax. However, if your inheritance pushes your total estate toward or above that threshold, strategic planning using irrevocable trusts, annual gifting, and other tools becomes important. The federal gift and estate tax rate on amounts above the exemption is 40%, which makes planning at that level essential.

Should I put inherited assets into a trust?

For most Sandy Springs residents, placing inherited assets into a trust is a smart move. A revocable living trust avoids probate, keeps your estate details private, and allows your assets to transfer to your beneficiaries without court involvement. An irrevocable trust offers stronger asset protection and can reduce your taxable estate. If you’ve inherited real estate, business interests, or a large investment portfolio, a trust gives you far more control over how those assets are managed and eventually distributed than a simple will does. The right type of trust depends on your goals, your family structure, and the nature of the assets you’ve inherited.

What happens if I inherit property in Georgia and don’t update my estate plan?

If you inherit property in Georgia and die without updating your estate plan, that property will be distributed according to Georgia’s intestate succession law under O.C.G.A. § 53-2-1 if it isn’t covered by a valid will or trust. That could mean your assets are divided in ways you never intended, with a spouse, children, and other relatives all receiving shares under the statutory formula. If your heirs include minor children, a court could appoint a conservator to manage the inherited assets until the children turn 18. Updating your plan promptly after an inheritance protects your wishes and your family.