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Home » QTIP Trust Requirements

QTIP Trust Requirements

April 10, 2019Trust in Indianapolis

QTIP trust requirements

As you mature, and both your estate and your family grow, your estate plan will likely become more complex as well. A number of additional estate planning tools and strategies will be added to your initial plan in order to keep up with your changing needs and expanding goals. If you are part of a blended family, one of the estate planning tools you may decide to incorporate into your plan is a Qualified Terminable Interest Property, or QTIP, trust.  Only your estate planning attorney can help you decide if a QTIP is right for your plan; however, it may help to learn more about the QTIP trust requirements.

The Blended Family

About half of all first marriages end in divorce in the U.S with about the same percentage of people deciding to remarry. The challenges of blending two families into one are numerous, as you already know if you are part of a blended family. Sometimes, the passage of time brings harmony to the family; however, in other cases, tension continues to exist, or may even worsen, long after the marriage. The death of one spouse can exacerbate that tension and may even lead to bitter and costly litigation. A well thought out estate plan can go a long way toward preventing contentious litigation after your death if you are part of a blended family, particularly if you are concerned about providing for your current spouse without putting assets intended for your children from a previous marriage at risk.  This is where a QTIP trust may be able to help.

Why Might You Need a QTIP Trust?

During your first marriage, you probably created reciprocal estate plans. You left all your assets to your spouse with the understanding that he/she would then pass those assets on down to your children upon death and your spouse did the same.  Now that you are remarried, however, that strategy no longer works. The dilemma you now face is that you likely want to provide for your current spouse while still setting aside assets for your children from your first marriage. You could leave everything to your current spouse and trust that he/she will leave those assets to your children upon death. Not only does that require a tremendous amount of trust in your spouse, but it also does not account for a whole host of intervening problems that could deplete the assets you intend to be passed down to your children. Your children could wind up with nothing. Fortunately, there is a way to both provide for your current spouse and protect assets earmarked for your children – by creating a QTIP trust.

QTIP Trust Requirements

A QTIP trust operates in basically the same way as any other trust with some special terms designed to provide for your spouse while protecting your children’s inheritance. You will need to appoint a Trustee to oversee the administration of the trust and to manage the trust assets. Assets transferred into the QTIP trust are not actually gifted to your current spouse when you die. Instead, your spouse receives income from the trust assets but cannot withdraw the principal from the trust nor can he or she decide on the ultimate disposition of the trust assets. In the case of real property, your surviving spouse may also receive a “life estate” in the property, meaning that he or she may remain in the home until death, but will never own the property outright. When your surviving spouse dies all assets held in the trust are then transferred to the intended QTIP trust beneficiaries, typically your children from a previous marriage.

QTIP Trust and Estate Taxes

Another advantage of using a QTIP trust is the flexibility it provides with regard to federal gift and estate taxes. The Executor of your estate can put some, or all, designated assets into the trust after your death. Assets that go into the trust are not taxed until the death of the surviving spouse. This can also be beneficial if the tax laws are not favorable at the time of your death. Your Executor must make a QTIP election on the tax return filed after your death and indicate which assets are to be transferred into the trust. This is one of the many reasons why you should work closely with an experienced trust attorney if you are considering the inclusion of a QTIP trust into your estate plan.

Contact Indianapolis Trust Attorneys

For more information, please join us for one of our FREE seminars. If you have specific questions about QTIP trust requirements, contact the experienced Indianapolis trust attorneys at Frank & Kraft by calling (317) 684-1100 to schedule an appointment.

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Paul A. Kraft, Estate Planning Attorney
Paul A. Kraft, Estate Planning Attorney
Paul Kraft is Co-Founder and the senior Principal of Frank & Kraft, one of the leading law firms in Indiana in the area of estate planning as well as business and tax planning.

Mr. Kraft assists clients primarily in the areas of estate planning and administration, Medicaid planning, federal and state taxation, real estate and corporate law, bringing the added perspective of an accounting background to his work.
Paul A. Kraft, Estate Planning Attorney
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Trust Administration Steps
To ensure that your estate doesn’t lose assets to federal gift and estate taxes you may need to include tax avoidance strategies in your estate plan. One estate planning tool that can provide tax avoidance benefits is a Grantor Retained Income Trust, or GRIT. Always consult with your estate planning attorney before deciding what tools to incorporate into your estate plan. In the meantime, however, the Indianapolis trust attorneys at Frank & Kraft explain how a Grantor Retained Income Trust works and why you might want to include one in your estate plan. What Is a GRIT? A GRIT is a specialized type of irrevocable trust that allows the Grantor (creator of the trust, also referred to as the “Settlor”) to transfer assets into the trust while retaining the right to receive all of the net income from the trust assets for a fixed term of years, referred to as the “initial term.” Income from the trust is distributed to the Grantor at least annually during the initial term. At the end of the initial term, the remaining principal is either distributed to the trust beneficiaries or remains in the trust for the benefit of those beneficiaries. The primary benefit of a GRIT is that if (this condition is important) the Grantor survives the initial term, the value of the principal held in the GRIT is excluded from the Grantor’s estate for federal gift and estate tax purposes. How Does a GRIT Help with Tax Avoidance? The tax avoidance benefit of a GRIT is found in how the value of the trust principal is determined because those assets are valued at a discount. The value of the discount depends on the length of the initial term of the GRIT, and the applicable federal rate in effect at the time the GRIT is established. The transfer of assets to a GRIT constitutes a gift equal to the total value of the assets transferred to the GRIT, less the present value of the retained income interest held by the Grantor for the initial term. If the Grantor survives the initial term, the assets comprising the GRIT will pass to the designated remainder beneficiaries at a reduced gift tax value. GRIT Beneficiaries Section 2702 of the Internal Revenue Code determines who you cannot name as a beneficiary in a GRIT. Excluded beneficiaries include your spouse, your ancestors or the ancestors of your spouse, any lineal descendant of yours or your spouse, any sibling of yours or your spouse, or the spouses of any of the foregoing persons. You can name lineal descendants of siblings, (nieces and nephews) relatives even more distant than nieces and nephews, or friends of yours or your spouse as beneficiaries of a GRIT. How a GRIT Works in Practice Imagine that you establish a 15-year GRIT and transfer $100,000 of assets into the trust and that the applicable federal rate is five percent. As the Grantor, you will receive the income from the GRIT during the initial term. The present value of the retained income interest is $66,007, making the value of the gift $33,993. If you survive until the end of the initial term, however, the remainder beneficiaries will receive $100,0000 plus all capital growth. Your estate, however, will only need to acknowledge a lifetime gift in the amount of $33,993 (the applicable value of the gift at the time it was made). Disadvantages of Using a GRIT Just like most tax savings tools and strategies, there are some disadvantages to relying on a GRIT. First, it is an irrevocable trust, meaning if your personal circumstances change, you cannot make corresponding changes to the trust. Second, if you do not survive the initial term the advantages gained by creating a GRIT do not apply. Contact the Indianapolis Trust Attorneys For more information, please download our FREE estate planning worksheet. If you have additional questions or concerns about establishing a Grantor Retained Income Trust, contact the experienced Indianapolis trust attorneys at Frank & Kraft by calling (317) 684-1100 to schedule an appointment.
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