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If you like not to pay this but like to follow rules, it is best sidestepped simply by holding the assets via a holding company...since the company is the titular holder and a company can't die, there is no inheritance tax levied.
I don't understand what you mean by this exactly. If you die and $100M in shares of Apple, Exxon, and assorted other stocks go to your heirs, you will legally have to pay estate taxes on the amount over the exemption. The exact same rule applies if $100M of shares of a random holding company go to your heirs ... the estate tax is still due.
In practice, people slowly shift ownership of "family" holdings (sometimes within a holding company) via various trusts, and other mechanisms, in the decades before they die to avoid as much of the estate tax as possible. But a simple holding company alone doesn't accomplish that.
