You, your noncitizen spouse and your estate plan – Use a QDOT to preserve marital deduction benefits

Description

Abstract: For married couples, the unlimited marital deduction is a powerful estate planning tool that allows an unlimited amount of assets to pass (through lifetime gifts or bequests at death) to a spouse free of gift and estate taxes — if the spouse is a U.S. citizen. If not, however, one can have assets transferred estate-tax free at death to a qualified domestic trust (QDOT), with the noncitizen spouse receiving the trust income during his or her lifetime. But there are pros and cons to be considered, along with international treaties that address estate taxes.