A/B Trust Divisions

Married couples in California are eligible for federal estate tax exemptions on their estate taxes. All too often, married couples make expensive mistakes, that result in them paying estate taxes when they could have easily avoided these. Speak to an experienced Orange County estate planning lawyer at the Citadel Law Corporation before you finalize estate plans, in order to maximize your estate tax exemption benefits. One of the ways many married couples choose to reduce estate taxes is to establish an A/B Trust. Call an Orange County trust divisions attorney at our firm to discuss how you can establish a trust like this to maximize tax benefits.

An A/B Trust is a tool that married couples can use to minimize the impact of federal taxes. This trust is established as part of astute estate planning for a married couple, and is basically a trust that divides into two upon the death of one spouse. When one spouse dies, the trust immediately is divided into two-the deceased spouse’s trust and the survivors trust.

Under federal estate tax laws, married couples are exempt for estate tax exemptions. This estate tax exemption, under the law, is portable between spouses. That means that if one spouse dies in 2011 or after 2011, and if the entire estate tax exemption is not applicable to his estate, the remainder exemption is transferred to the surviving spouse’s estate. What that means is that as a part of a married couple, you can leave your heirs more than 10 million dollars, without any estate taxes applying to the estate.

You don’t necessarily need an A/B trust to take advantage of federal estate tax exemptions. However, in those cases, where each spouse has different sets of beneficiaries for each spouse, you may need a trust to ensure that your assets are transferred to the right heirs. For example, if one of the spouses is in a second marriage, and has children from an earlier marriage, then it may be necessary to transfer assets to an A/B trust to ensure that the beneficiaries of each spouse are their own children.

Speak to an estate planning lawyer in Orange County about how you can establish an A/B trust for the protection of your assets for your beneficiaries, and to maximize benefits from federal estate tax exemptions. Call 949-852-8181 to speak with an Orange County trust divisions attorney at the Citadel Law Corporation and discuss establishing an A/B trust as part of your estate plan.