My day job has to do with tax law, particularly as it applies to estate planning for the wealthy. And there is big, big news for the estate planners of America tonight. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled in favor of some taxpayers whose late mother had set up a family limited partnership (an FLP, as it's known in the trade) to avoid federal estate taxes. The court held that section 2036(a) of the Internal Revenue Code did not apply to the arrangement, and so the value that was subject to estate tax was much less than what the government contended.

For those of you interested in such things, the Fifth Circuit's opinion in the case, Kimbell v. United States, can be found here.