The marital deduction is a provision
in the United States Federal Estate and Gift Tax Law that allows a
person to transfer unrestricted tax free amount of funds or assets
to his/her spouse at any point of time including at the time of
death of the transferor.
To ensure that the property actually
transfers to spouse, marital deduction has 6 requirements which are
as follows:
- There is a surviving spouse
- The surviving spouse and the
decedent must be legally married under state law and federal
law.
- The property for which the marital
deduction has been claimed can be included in the the surviving
spouse's gross estate unless the property has been consumed or
disposed of before the surviving spouse's death.
- The property must pass to a
surviving spouse who is a U.S citizen or to a qualified domestic
trust that provides support to the surviving spouse.
- The property interest must pass
from the decedent to the surviving spouse by trust, inheritance,
elected share, exercise, release of power of appointment held by
the decedent, as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy on the
decedent or by any other transfer.
- The property interest cannot be a
nondeductible terminal interest. If so, then the interest can be
transferred to someone other than the surviving spouse.