Property Division Info

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A QDOT is a specific type of marital deduction trust that is designed to ensure that non-citizen spouses will eventually pay any taxes that may be due upon distribution of the principal from the trust, even if the surviving spouse resides outside of the United States. Without a QDOT, an estate would be immediately taxable. More specifically, the marital deduction typically allows the assets of an estate to be passed to a spouse without tax consequences.

The marital deduction for property passing to a non-citizen spouse is generally not allowed without the existence of a Qualified Domestic Trust (QDOT).

Special Requirements

To ensure the taxes are eventually paid, there are certain required provisions:

  • The trustee of the trust, or one of the co-trustees, must be a U.S. citizen or a domestic corporation of the U.S.
  • The trust must contain a restriction that no principal will be distributed from the trust unless the U.S. citizen or domestic corporation trustee has the right to withhold any tax due from the distribution.
  • The trust must comply with Treasury Regulations to ensure the collection of any tax.
  • The trust must satisfy the applicable rules for marital trusts for U.S. citizen surviving spouses.
  • A QDOT election must be made on the decedent’s estate tax return.

If a trust fails to qualify as a QDOT, under certain circumstances a QDOT can be created by the use of a reformation (correction or change of an existing trust document). Some foreign countries prohibit trusts or prohibit a trust from having a U.S. trustee. In recognition of these situations, the Secretary of the Treasury has the authority to prescribe regulations allowing exceptions to the above requirements for qualifying as a QDOT. However, such regulations may only allow a marital deduction for nontrust arrangements or for trusts without a U.S. trustee under circumstances where the U.S. would retain jurisdiction and where there is adequate security to impose a tax on transfers by the surviving spouse of the property transferred by the deceased spouse.

Estates of $2 Million or Less

For estates of $2 million or less, the trust must either require that real property located outside of the U.S. accounts for no more than 35% of the fair market value of the trust property or meet the requirements for an estate that exceeds $2 million in assets.

Estates Exceeding $2 Million

For estates that exceed $2 million in assets, the QDOT must provide one of the following:

  • Require that at least one trustee is a U.S. bank
  • Post a surety bond in favor of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in an amount equal to 65% of the fair market value of the trust assets
  • Provide a letter of credit from a domestic bank or U.S. branch of a foreign bank, or issued by a foreign bank and confirmed by a domestic bank, in an amount equal to 65% of the fair market value of the trust assets

QDOT Property May be Subject to Estate Tax if:

  • Any principal distributions (except distributions made on account of hardship) to the surviving spouse will be subject to estate tax
  • The surviving spouse’s death prior to December 31, 2009 will cause the remaining property in the QDOT to be subject to estate tax as if it were included in the estate of the first spouse to die
  • If the QDOT ceases to meet the requirements under the regulations, an estate tax is imposed as if the surviving spouse had died on the date when the trust failed to qualify as a QDOT

Work with a Chicagoland Attorney and Mediator

Getting a Divorce is a difficult time of life, choosing the right attorney should not be! For over 4 decades Alan Pearlman, Ltd. has been serving Chicagoland and the surrounding Suburbs in obtaining solutions to these difficult matters. Contact my office at 847-205-4383 for your free 1/2 hour consultation and see how we can be of service to you.

Divorce mediation, an alternative to traditional divorce proceedings, is a means to resolve the complex issues of a divorce. Mediation involves the services of a trained and neutral person who works with the parties to facilitate the settlement of disputed issues. Such person is known as the "mediator."

In traditional divorce proceedings, the judge ultimately determines child support, child custody, spousal support and property issues. Mediation, on the other hand, allows couples to control the outcome of their divorce. Additionally, the mediation process is non-adversarial in nature, which is especially important for couples with children, as like-minded parents can establish parenting plans with minimum disruption to the lives of their children.

Continue Reading Successful Divorce Mediation

Many marital settlement agreements require one party to maintain a life insurance policy on his or her life naming the former spouse as the primary beneficiary. While this provides some financial security for the former spouse, it may also result in an adverse unintended tax consequence for the insured spouse’s estate.

For example, if the ex-husband is required to maintain a $1 million life insurance policy on his life, naming his ex-wife as beneficiary, on the ex-husband’s death his ex-wife will receive the $1 million face amount of the policy directly from the life insurance company. If the ex-husband was the owner of the life insurance policy and paid the premiums on the policy, the IRS will include the $1 million face amount of the policy in the ex-husband’s estate for the purposes of calculating the amount of estate tax owed by the ex-husband’s estate. If the ex-husband died in 2007 with a taxable estate of $3 million plus the $1 million in life insurance, the inclusion of the life insurance proceeds would result in a $450,000 increase in the estate tax owed.

The foregoing result may be avoided through the use of a tax-sensitive marital settlement agreement and an irrevocable life insurance trust. The ex-husband may still be required to maintain a $1 million life insurance policy with his ex-wife as beneficiary, but the life insurance policy would be owned by the trustee of the irrevocable life insurance trust. The ex-husband may transfer money to the trust for the payment of the premiums. Since the payments are required pursuant to a court order, the payments are not considered taxable gifts. Since the irrevocable life insurance trust, not the ex-husband, is the owner of the policy, the $1 million life insurance policy will not be included in the ex-husband’s estate for the purpose of calculating the estate tax owed.

It has been estimated that more than one half of all first marriages end in divorce; the number of failed marriages is even higher for second marriages. One major issue in most divorces is the division of property. Commonly, a large portion of the marital assets consist of rights in or payments from one or more pension plans.

Pension Plans and ERISA
Divorce and division of property are generally controlled by state law. However, when state law contradicts or is inconsistent with federal law, the federal law "preempts" the state law; federal law controls the outcome. In 1984, Congress passed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which governs most private pension plans (government and some other plans are not covered).

Federal law prohibits the assignment of pension benefits in ERISA plans. This appeared to include transfers to a spouse during divorce, regardless of a state court decision on division. To remedy this, the Retirement Equity Act of 1984 (REA) established an exception to the rule through use of a "QDRO."
Continue Reading Qualified Domestic Relations Orders and Divorce Settlements

Decisions regarding the division of marital assets upon divorce may be made either by the divorcing spouses themselves or by a judge. State law governs which spouse is entitled to receive which assets in the distribution. Typically, each spouse will receive a percentage of the total value of their joint property. Although it is illegal to do so, one spouse may try to hide their assets in an effort to protect the assets from property division. There are numerous tactics that an individual might try to use to veil their assets. However, it is possible to find hidden assets to make them available for a fair distribution in a divorce. Continue Reading Divorce and Hidden Assets

An increasingly large portion of the assets of married couples consist of rights to payments and stock from pension plans. In many states such assets are subject to division during a divorce. Divorce and division of property are generally controlled by state law, but pension plans are controlled by federal law in many respects.

Pension Plans and ERISA
A major advantage of saving for retirement through a pension plan is that contributions from employees and employers for plans such as a 401(k) plan are not taxed as income until distributed by the plan, usually after retirement, at lower tax rates. However, under provisions of the Federal Internal Revenue Code, the assignment of pension benefits, including transfers to a spouse during divorce, may result in the loss of such tax benefits.

In 1984, Congress passed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which governs most private pension plans (government and some other plans are not covered, nor are IRAs). To remedy the anti-assignment problem, the Retirement Equity Act of 1984 (REA) amended ERISA to establish an exception to the anti-assignment bar to division of ERISA plan benefits during divorce. Continue Reading Tax Pitfalls in Dividing Pensions During a Divorce

Upon divorce, all debts, property and assets must be divided between the spouses according to applicable percentages set by state law. In equitable distribution states, the court divides marital property (or property acquired during the marriage) according to what is “equitable” or “fair.” In community property states, the court will divide marital property in equal shares, or fifty-fifty. In general, retirement benefits are classified as “property” and are thus subject to division in the event of a divorce.

Defined Benefit Plans
Generally, a “defined benefit plan” is a retirement plan that will provide monthly income benefits which become payable upon retirement. Defined benefit plans use a formula to calculate the retirement allowance based on certain set factors such as age, years of service and salary. As such, these plans are more restrictive. Defined benefit plans are designed to allow for a member to receive their retirement benefits for the rest of their lifetime. They can be in the form of government pensions, union pensions or company pensions Continue Reading Retirement Benefit Distribution Upon Divorce