Internal Revenue Code Section 2518 Disclaimers and the 1981.pdf

Santa Clara Law R eview Volume 22 | Number 4 Article 8 1-1-1982 Internal Revenue Code Section 2518 Disclaimers and the 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act : Continued Unequal Treatment of Taxpayers Emma Pena Follow this and a itional works at : http:// /lawreview Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Emma Pena, Comment, Internal Revenue Code Section 2518 Disclaimers and the 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act: Continued Unequal Treatment of Taxp ay ers, 22 Santa Clara L. Rev. 1179 (1982). Available at : http:// /lawreview/vol22/iss4/8 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Santa Clara Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Santa Clara Law R eview by an authorized administrator of Santa Clara Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact sculawlibrarian@. COMMENT INTERNAL REVENUE CODE SECTION 2518 DISCLAIMERS AND THE 1981 ECONOMIC RECOVERY TAX ACT: CONTINUED UNEQUAL TREATMENT OF TAXPAYERS I. INTRODUCTION One of the purposes of estate planning is to decrease or eliminate federal and state taxes by distributing family wealth to meet family members needs.1 Disclaimers2 can play an im- portant role in estate distributions particularly where the ben- eficiaries circumstances have changed since the formulation 3 A disclaimer is a refusal to accept of the original estate plan. ownership of either a testamentary or inter vivos gift or an intestate share. The disclaimed property is treated as if it had never been transferred to the person making the dis- claim