Effective as of January 1, 2018, the recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) made many significant changes to the tax law, including the area of estate and gift taxes.  These changes present an opportunity to take advantage of a historically large exemption amount, and should also prompt a review of existing estate planning documents and beneficiary designations (particularly if such plans were made based on the much lower exemption amounts before 2010).   Temporary Increase in Federal Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Transfer (“GST”) Tax Exemption Amount   Increased Exemption. For 2017, individuals had an exemption of up to $5.49 million against Federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes ($10.98 million for a married couple).  For 2018, those exemptions are now doubled, to approximately $11.2 …