Estate planning and trusts

[Mariah Jeffery]

For those of you with lots of property, are you holding it in a trust? What type of estate plan do you have set up?

I'm asking because my husband and I are about to inherit some property from his mom (shares of a corporation which holds ranch land) and we'd like to know
1) How she can get the shares to us with minimal/no tax consequences (should it be put in a trust or should she simply gift shares to us)?
2) How can we hold this property so that our assets will be protected?

I'm confused on gift limits. Can MIL exceed the $13K per person limit if she dips into her liftetime exclusion, which is $5M this year and set to revert to $1M in 2013?

We do plan to involve a lawyer and CPA, but I'm trying to do preliminary research so I go into the meeting focused and educated.