North Carolina Estate Planning Blog:  “One common oversight I see when reviewing new clients’ financial status is failure to consider the estate tax impact of large life insurance policies. Most people know that life insurance proceeds are received free from income tax.  What most don’t know, however, is that the proceeds are part of the insured’s estate for estate tax purposes if:

• The proceeds are payable to the insured estate, or
• The insured has any “incidents of ownership” of the policy, such as the right to change the beneficiary or access the cash value.”