The passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) has changed the landscape for wealthy families and family offices helping with estate planning and taxes.
One of the most anticipated changes was to the estate tax exemption, which is going up to $15 million per person or $30 million per couple in 2026; it had been scheduled to be cut approximately in half before the tax bill passed.
“The whole space was in a bit of flux before the election,” says Nicholas A. Chamis, senior counsel in the tax, benefits and estate planning practice at Foley & Lardner. “Family office beneficiaries and family office members, like many other wealthy individuals, were making sure that they had estate planning counsel lined up to implement their strategies and make sure they utilized their exemptions. Now that rush is kind of off, and family office members can act from a little bit more of a position of prudence and power. They are going to have this inflated exemption, presumably for at least the next several years, starting in 2026 when it rises to $15 million.”
Even people who have already used their entire exemption will get another $1.1 million per person on January 1, 2026.
“For a lot of family office folks, there’s a continued ability to enhance their planning and continue what they’ve done. For folks who haven’t done planning, it’s the continued ability to plan when they’re not rushing into things. The fear is, when people are up against a deadline, are they making decisions that they’ve really thought through?” Chamis says. “A lot of people are not hitting stop or pause in their planning, but it’s just slowing down.”
There are several other areas that could affect family offices, says Maxwell Youngquist, tax partner with RSM U.S. and the firm’s family office structuring and governance leader:
Small business and startup investments
Expanded qualified small business stock exclusions now make private company investments more attractive, accelerating exit opportunities and boosting after-tax returns.
The new tax bill shortens the amount of time a small business owner must own stock to begin getting a capital gains exclusion: It will start phasing in at three years, then reach 100% at five years for gains under the cap, giving investors more flexibility in when they exit.
The bill also raises the exclusion cap from $10 million to $15 million, and it increases the asset ceiling for businesses, so the exclusion of gain on the sale of stock can apply to businesses that qualify with a gross asset limit of up to $75 million. The cap, which is either $15 million or 10 times the basis, is per issuer, per taxpayer, so families may be able to increase those limits by tax planning and spreading ownership or gifting some of the company stock owned by nongrantor trusts or different family members.
These changes may cause family offices that do direct investing — or the wealth managers they work with — to take another look at some investment opportunities given the higher limits and increased flexibility.
Real estate
Permanency of opportunity zone benefits and bonus depreciation gives family offices greater predictability and flexibility in structuring deals.
Established Qualified Opportunity Zones — areas designated by states where investors can defer their capital gains — are due to sunset at the end of 2026, so families that have invested in them will see capital gains bills. Those investors may be looking at strategies for realizing capital losses to offset those gains. The new bill will allow the creation of new zones in 2027, as well as a way to step up the basis when the investments are held long-term for five years or more, potentially cutting 10% off the bill when the gains are recognized after five years.
Investors do need to be sure the investments will make money, of course.
“Under the first program, we did see some of these where investors didn’t make money at the end of the day even after saving on taxes. So you still need to do your due diligence,” Youngquist says.
Philanthropy
A new adjusted gross income floor and deduction limits are prompting family offices to rethink how and when they give.
The new bill changes the rules for charitable contributions: Taxpayers who itemize deductions will have to donate more than 0.5% of their adjusted gross income in order exceed the floor to qualify for the charitable deduction.
“You may see everyone try to cram charitable contributions in this year before there’s a floor,” since this starts in 2026, Youngquist says. “It’s going to make charitable planning a lot more nuanced: Do we want to save that contribution for next year because we know we’re going to have less AGI?”
State and local tax (SALT) planning
While the deduction cap increases to $40,000, most high-net-worth families won’t benefit due to the income phaseout — making pass-through entity tax elections more critical than ever.
Because overall deductions are reduced for those in the top tax brackets, some families look for ways to move some of these deductions — such as for charitable contributions or SALT deductions — to family members with lower incomes, or to trusts.
“Does moving deductions down to the kids make sense? That’s all going to be a big, big planning aspect under this new bill,” Youngquist says.
Disaster deductions
In the past, only losses from federally declared disasters could qualify for tax deductions. This bill extends that to state-declared disasters. For families with homes in flood zones or fire zones, for example, this could be a helpful benefit.
“This is a change that’s going to have a big effect when it does matter,” Youngquist says.
Trump accounts
Every qualified baby born between 2025 and 2029 will receive $1,000 in an IRA-like investment account with tax-deferred growth. For these accounts created by the government and accounts established for those under 18, parents and others can contribute up to $5,000 additionally per year in private funds as well. Employers can contribute up to $2,500 (which counts toward the $5,000 limit). These numbers may not move the needle for families with family offices, but they could be interesting for non-family employees of family offices.
“It actually is a potential unique lever to pull for your employees,” Youngquist says.