Complex Trust

A marital trust starts as a revocable living trust. A surviving spouse can be its trustee.

When one of the spouses dies, the trust will then split into two trusts automatically. Each trust will have half the assets of the trust along with the separate property of the spouse. The surviving spouse is the trustee over both trusts.

Generally, a Property Trust Will costs between £350 and A£500 plus VAT. It will cost more for couples registering together than it does for individuals. Usually, this is a fixed fee a one-off payment for the setup and registration of the plan.

Yes, the surviving spouse may serve as trustee of the credit shelter trust.All of the assets in the credit shelter trust, including any appreciation in value during the surviving spouse's lifetime, pass free of estate tax to the beneficiaries.

Unlike with a QTIP trust, the surviving spouse typically has complete control over a marital trust, including use of the trust assets and final say on designating who the final beneficiaries are. A QTIP trust offers more control to the grantor but less control to the surviving spouse compared to marital trust.

QTIP trusts are put to use in estate planning and are especially useful when beneficiaries exist from a previous marriage but the grantor dies before a subsequent spouse does. With a QTIP, estate tax is not assessed at the point of the first spouse's death, but is instead determined after the second spouse has passed.

Also called an "A" trust, a marital trust goes into effect when the first spouse dies. Assets are moved into the trust upon death and the income that these assets generate go to the surviving spouseunder some arrangements, the surviving spouse can also receive principal payments.

A marital trust allows the couple's heirs to avoid probate and take less of a hit from estate taxes by taking full advantage of the unlimited marital deductiona provision that enables spouses to pass assets to each other without tax consequences.