10 Things to Know About Estate Planning for Cross-Border Couples

The new Death Tax Repeal Act bills include a gift for clients in cross-border marriages: a repeal of the estate tax on the assets stored in a couple's qualified domestic trust. These trusts, also known as QDOTs, are a crucial estate planning vehicle for noncitizen spouses, who do not enjoy the same generous estate tax exemption given to U.S. citizens. The bills, H.R. 7035 and S. 1108, which would repeal the estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes, have little hope of becoming law, but the qualified domestic trust provisions are a reminder of how complicated the rules governing estate planning for cross-border couples can be. In this gallery are 10 things to know about estate planning for U.S. citizen clients married to noncitizens.