Q-Tip Trust

A Qualified Terminable-Interest Property trust provides a high degree of flexibility in providing for a surviving spouse's needs and subsequently benefiting a charity. In this arrangement, a trust is created by will for the benefit of the surviving spouse. The trustee is empowered to distribute income to the spouse, and to invade the trust corpus if necessary, to maintain lifestyle or cover medical or other costs as they may arise. Any remaining assets are then distributed to charity as specified in the trust. The full estate tax marital deduction is available, as is an estate tax charitable deduction in the spouse's estate. A professional advisor should be consulted to learn more about this type of trust.