Wall Street Journal: Gifting Your House and Living in It, Too, by Mike Spector:

Plunging real-estate values have made it an opportune time for older homeowners to give property to their children, while realizing big savings on gift and estate taxes.

They can do this by moving the home out of their estate with a so-called qualified personal residence trust, or QPRT, which allows homeowners to live in a property for many years before passing it on to their heirs. Though the trusts have been around for many years, many estate planners say now could be a good time to set one up since real-estate values have fallen dramatically in many markets.

QPRTs are one of a number of strategies that wealth advisers and estate planners are recommending as clients cope with beaten-down financial markets and a nasty real-estate landscape. The goal: Put beaten-down assets into trusts now and reap benefits from their appreciation outside of your estate. With real-estate values low, executing a QPRT now ensures your estate won't contain a more-expensive home down the road, which could trigger a costly tax bill for your estate.