Wall Street Journal, Crummey Trusts Still Smart, Say Advisers, by Arden Dale:

[Crummey trusts] make sense now, advisers say, despite the fact that Congress raised the lifetime threshold for tax-free giving to $5 million in 2011 and 2012 from $1 million last year. The ceiling could fall back down again in 2013, they say, or the government could decide to “claw back” gift- and estate-tax savings from this year and next.

Here is how a family can use a Crummey trust: Have your estate planner set up one to buy a life-insurance policy, and fund the premiums with annual gifts. (Each year, a person can give unlimited separate gifts of up to $13,000—the current annual ceiling for gifts to individuals.) That gets money out of the estate while skirting the gift tax. Since the trust owns the policy, the death benefit ultimately goes to the trust, shielding it from federal estate taxes.

(Hat Tip: Tim Byus.)