Help Provide for the One You Love
Planning for a surviving spouse is an important part of protecting your family’s financial future. A thoughtfully designed trust can help provide ongoing income, preserve assets, and offer reassurance that your spouse will have support after you’re gone.
With professional investment management, a trust can also help ease the responsibility of managing investments—especially if your spouse would prefer to focus on other priorities. Countybank’s trust professionals can help you explore options that reflect your wishes and your family’s needs.
Traditional Marital Trust: Provide Income and Flexibility
A traditional marital trust is designed to qualify for the federal estate tax marital deduction. To meet the requirements, the trust generally must distribute all income to the surviving spouse at least once a year.
The surviving spouse typically also has the ability to decide how the remaining trust assets will be distributed after their death, often through instructions in their will.
This type of trust may be a fit for couples who want to provide ongoing financial support for a surviving spouse while allowing them flexibility over the eventual distribution of assets.
QTIP Trust: Support Your Spouse and Preserve Your Legacy
A Qualified Terminable Interest Property (QTIP) trust can also qualify for the federal estate tax marital deduction. Unlike a traditional marital trust, however, it allows you to determine who receives the remaining trust assets after your surviving spouse’s death.
This can be especially helpful for blended families. For example, a QTIP trust may provide income to a surviving spouse for their lifetime, while directing the remaining assets to children from a previous marriage.
A QTIP trust can help balance two important goals: providing for your spouse and preserving assets for the beneficiaries you choose.
QDOT Trust: Planning When Your Spouse Is Not a U.S. Citizen
If your surviving spouse is not a U.S. citizen, a Qualified Domestic Trust (QDOT) may be an important part of your estate plan. Under applicable rules, a QDOT can help a qualifying estate receive the marital deduction.
A QDOT generally must provide income to the surviving spouse, and certain distributions or events may trigger U.S. transfer taxes before the spouse’s death.
Because QDOTs involve specific legal and tax requirements, it’s important to work with qualified estate-planning and tax professionals to determine whether this trust is appropriate for your situation.
Plan for Your Spouse’s Future With Countybank
Every family’s circumstances are different. Countybank’s trust professionals can help you understand your options and work alongside your legal and tax advisors to develop a plan that supports your spouse and reflects your wishes.
Let’s talk about how a trust may help provide greater confidence for the future.