The federal government is giving widows and widowers more time to deal with the intricacies of the estate tax after a spouse dies.

When one spouse dies, their partner often inherits all or part of the deceased person’s estate. The surviving spouse receives those funds tax-free. They can also carry over the deceased’s unused estate tax exclusion if they file an estate tax return and choose what the Internal Revenue Service calls portability.

Source: finance.yahoo.com