Why You May Need a Trust Lawyer if Your Spouse Isn’t a U.S. Citizen
By Barry Zimmer on July 6th, 2017 in Estate Taxes
Cincinnati trust lawyers provide assistance in understanding the circumstances in which a trust is necessary to provide protection for assets. Trusts are powerful tools that can do many different things to give you more control over an inheritance, to help you to avoid estate tax, to protect your assets, and to accomplish other estate planning and asset protection goals. Zimmer Law Firm can assist you in understanding the different kinds of trusts that can be utilized to accomplish different purposes and can assist with the trust creation process.
One situation in which it may become important to make a trust can arise when you have a spouse who is not a citizen of the United States. While you can normally leave an unlimited amount of wealth to your spouse when you pass away without any estate tax having to be paid by your surviving husband or wife, this is not the case if your spouse is not a citizen of the United States.
You don’t want your spouse to lose a substantial amount of money and property if your estate has to pay a big tax bill after you pass away due to the fact your husband or wife isn’t a citizen. To make certain that this does not happen to your partner, you need to use the right legal tools. Zimmer Law Firm can help so give us a call today.
Protecting Your Non-Citizen Spouse from Estate Tax
Estate taxes are charged on larger estates in the United States by the federal government, as well as by some states. Estate taxes are paid by the estate, but because the estate must foot this big bill, less money is left in the estate to pass on to heirs or beneficiaries. While the federal government taxes most transfers of substantial wealth through estate tax, spouses are allowed to leave an unlimited amount of assets to each other without estate tax being triggered.
The federal government allows assets to transfer from one spouse to another without taxes for many reasons, including the fact it is assumed that the spouse who inherits the assets will eventually pass on and leave wealth to children or other non-spouses. In other words, the government figures it will tax the money eventually.
If the spouse who inherits is not a U.S. citizen, however, there is more uncertainty as to what could happen. It is possible that the non-citizen spouse could leave the country before his or her death and take the un-taxed wealth so the government would not ever be able to collect the estate tax. To avoid this, the government does generally charge estate tax when a larger estate is passed on to a non-citizen spouse. This could cause substantial financial damage for the non-citizen spouse who loses a big part of an inheritance.
A qualified domestic trust (QDOT) makes it possible to defer the taxes and make a transfer to a non-citizen spouse without estate tax being charged to the estate after death. You must make sure you are able to follow all of the rules for creating this type of trust because there could be a lot of money at stake if you have a larger estate and mistakes are made. Zimmer Law Firm has provided assistance with the creation of many qualified domestic trusts and we can work with you to determine if you need this kind of trust and to help you to create it if you do.
Getting Help from Cincinnati Trust Lawyers
Zimmer Law Firm can assist you in determining if you need a qualified domestic trust (QDOT) in order to protect your husband or wife from receiving a substantially smaller inheritance due to estate tax. Our firm can also assist you in understanding all of the different kinds of trusts that you could potentially utilize so you can determine if you want to make trusts part of your estate plan or asset protection plan.
If you need to make any type of trust to achieve your goals for protecting your legacy, family, and assets, our firm can help you. We have experience with all different kinds of trust creation and will ensure that you follow the formalities to create and fund a legally valid trust. To find out more about the way in which Cincinnati living trust lawyers can help you, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at 513.721.1513 to talk with an experienced attorney about your trust creation options.