Lost in the shuffle surrounding the Obama administration's "deal" with Republican lawmakers over extending the Bush-era tax cuts is a temporary fix to the estate tax.  If no action is taken, the estate tax will be reinstated in 2011 for estates worth more than one million dollars -- a threshold that is very easy to reach when you take into account family businesses, life insurance proceeds, or real estate.  The good news is that the deal will set the estate tax exemption at $5 million, with the value over that amount taxed at a 35% rate.  The bad news is that the fix would only be for two years, when rates would presumably reset to pre-Bush-era levels of the $1 million exemption/55% tax rate.  The deal also would allow the estates of persons dying in 2010 to pick to be treated under the 2010 rules or the 2011 rules, which will help some estates save money in capital gains taxes.