A QTIP Trust

A QTIP (Qualified Terminable Interest Property) trust is an important estate planning trust most often used in second marriage situations where a person with assets wants to provide for his/her second spouse, ensure that his/her children will receive his/her assets upon the spouse's death and minimize/postpone estate inheritance taxation. Under a QTIP trust the surviving spouse and only the surviving spouse must be entitled to receive income from the trust. The surviving spouse and only the surviving spouse can receive the trust assets but that use can be limited by standards that you establish to be administered by the trustee that you appoint. Upon the spouse's death the trust assets are then distributed to your named beneficiaries, after the trust pays any inheritance tax that may be due by inclusion of the trust in your spouse's estate. While there may be some inheritance tax due, if the QTIP is planned right the estate taxes will be minimized and there payment will be postponed. Couples in first marriages usually have no need or interest in a QTIP, particularly if the couple owns their property together and intend that the same people, usually their children are to inherit there property. In that case they would possibly be better served with a different estate planning vehicle - such as a credit shelter trust.

Mr. Friedman has been drafting trusts for almost 30 years and he is committed to drafting your trust so that it is not just state of the art, and legally compliant but understandable to the non lawyer. Please contact Mr. Friedman online or call us at 954-385-7282 to set up a free initial consultation.

At the law office of Steven Friedman our guiding principal has and always will be to provide our clients with competent legal representation at a fair and reasonable fee.