Practitioners should review options with clients that might include:
- Outright bequest to surviving spouse, with contingent disclaimer trust, subject to the problems that this approach creates
- Clayton QTIP approach, subject to the complexity it creates
- Continuing a credit shelter/marital trust funding formula as under current law with a specification as to whether the credit shelter trust should be funded if repeal undermines the integrity of the formula allocations
Flexibility is certainly important in light of today’s significant uncertainty. But in many if not most cases, the structure of the typical current dispositive scheme may be ambiguous or worse. That will be explored in the next article in this series.
Impact if Federal Estate Tax Repealed
