Skip to Content

We are a Veteran Owned Business, providing 20% discounts for Veterans, First Responders, Elementary and High School teachers. Please contact us to set up a phone or Zoom meeting. Taking care of you and your family, It's What We Do!

Marital Trusts

What is a Marital Trust?

A Marital Trust, or as it is sometimes called, the “A Trust,” is an Irrevocable Trust designed to hold the deceased spouse’s assets that exceed the amount that can be sheltered from death taxes. The Marital Trust assets are not taxed at the first spouse’s death, but they are part of the second spouse’s estate. If the second spouse is not wealthy, this allows the use of both spouses’ exemptions without actually giving the less wealthy spouse ownership.

What is the Purpose of a Marital Trust?

The Marital Trust shelters the assets from the surviving spouse’s creditors and future spouses. The Bypass Trust can also be crafted to ensure that the property passes to the deceased spouse’s children or family at the surviving spouse’s death, keeping them out of the hands of the second husband/wife.

Typical Estate Questions About Marital Trusts:

Here are some questions clients, beneficiaries, and Trustees ask:

How does the Marital Trust protect a beneficiary from death taxes?

The Marital Trust allows a married couple to act as a team, maximizing their combined estate and generation-skipping tax exemptions.

What are the pros of the Marital Trust?

Tax avoidance, asset protection and providing the opportunity to keep assets within the family bloodline.

What are the cons of a Marital Trust?

The Marital Trust has a tax ID and must file a separate tax return.

Can Anyone be a Marital Trust Beneficiary?

The surviving spouse must be the only beneficiary.

Can only a Spouse be a Marital Trust Beneficiary?

Yes, to meet the estate and generation-skipping tax requirements, the spouse must be the sole beneficiary.

Reasonable Prices | Years of Experience | We Make Trusts and Estate Planning Easier

If you have any questions about Marital Trusts or any other estate planning topics, feel free to contact us to schedule a free consultation. For more than two decades Klenk Law has focused only on Estate Law. We’ve seen it all, and this experience allows us to explain complex estate law and planning techniques clearly and concisely. We make it easy for you to understand Marital Trusts and Estate Planning so you can make the best decisions for yourself and your family.

What Our clients are saying

Klenk Law Logo
Stars

Cathy Goodwin

Very friendly and easy to work with - definitely a better experience than I've had with other lawyers! Peter is very detailed and thorough. I've worked on previous versions of my will with other lawyers, and he pointed out things they'd never mentioned. Fast turnaround and very responsive to emails and phone calls.

Klenk Law Logo
Stars

Jacqueline Gowen-Tolcott

We had an excellent experience. Everyone was very personable, professional and efficient.

Klenk Law Logo
Stars

Chris Kurdelski

Transparent approach and pricing, with prompt and professional response. They understand the various sensitivities of estate planning. Cannot recommend the firm more highly., go with Klenk

Klenk Law Logo
Stars

Christian Milazzo

This law firm was super helpful with answering all my questions! Huge props specifically to Riley for their enormous assist with helping me get where I needed to go. They were fantastic!!!

Klenk Law Logo
Stars

Matthew Wentz

My experience with Klenk Law was nothing shy of amazing. I had done some quick research when searching for an estate attorney and was immediately drawn to Klenk Law being a veteran owned business and due to their support for veterans, first responders, and teachers . Every member of their staff was knowledgeable and patient through every step of the process and with all of my questions. They were honest and transparent with pricing and expectations. They were very timely with communications and kept me in the loop throughout the process. I will definitely recommend Klenk Law to friends and family.

Let us put our expertise to work for you.

Free consultation within 24 hours.