Trust · SLAT
Spousal Lifetime Access Trust
Explicación simple
A SLAT is an irrevocable lifetime gift trust created by one spouse for the other spouse and often descendants, seeking to move assets outside the donor's estate while preserving indirect family access through discretionary distributions.
- The donor keeps no enforceable right
- The donor should not retain an enforceable right to trust property.
- Divorce, death or creditors can end practical access
- Divorce, death of the beneficiary spouse, and creditor events can end practical access.
- Mirror-image trusts risk the reciprocal-trust rule
- Near-mirror SLATs created by both spouses can trigger reciprocal-trust concerns.
Who does what in a trust
- Grantor / settlor Creates the trust and contributes property under the governing terms.
- Trust Holds legal title and defines powers, standards, beneficiaries, and duration.
- Trustee Administers, invests, accounts, and distributes under the document and governing law.
- Beneficiaries Receive permitted benefits now or later under the distribution terms.
Profundiza
Personas, plazos y bienes
Use lifetime exclusion while allowing discretionary support for a spouse.
- Quién lo constituye
- One spouse as donor.
- Quién actúa como fiduciario
- Beneficiary spouse with constrained powers, an independent trustee, or both.
- Quién puede ser beneficiario
- Nondonor spouse and often descendants.
- Cuándo entra en vigor
- During marriage when funded.
- Activos comúnmente considerados
- Marketable investments; Appreciating business interests; Life insurance in some designs
Impuestos, transferencias y control
A completed gift may use exclusion; grantor-trust status is common; estate inclusion and reciprocal-trust risks depend on powers and facts.
- Consideraciones sobre el impuesto a las donaciones
- Classify any lifetime contribution or transfer under current gift-tax law. Whether it is a completed gift, requires valuation or Form 709 reporting, qualifies for an exclusion, or affects GST allocation depends on the transfer, retained powers, beneficiary rights, timing, and governing terms.
- Tratamiento del impuesto sobre la renta
- often grantor trust, design-dependent
- Potencial de reducción del impuesto sobre el caudal hereditario
- high potential
- Planificación GST
- possible
- Características de protección de activos
- often meaningful for beneficiaries
- Consideraciones de control
- Distributions should be fiduciary decisions, not a side agreement; divorce and spouse-death contingencies need design attention.
Idoneidad para la planificación y administración
Domestic-relations, creditor, trustee, state-tax, and self-settled-trust rules can affect outcomes.
- Usuarios típicos
- Married high-net-worth families; Business owners; Families using lifetime gifts
- Cuándo puede ser conveniente
- A married donor can make a genuine irrevocable gift and remain financially secure without a right to the assets.
- Cuándo puede no ser conveniente
- The donor depends on access, the marriage is unstable, or both spouses expect to recreate ownership through matching trusts.
- Consideraciones estatales
- Domestic-relations, creditor, trustee, state-tax, and self-settled-trust rules can affect outcomes.
- Frecuentemente considerado por parejas casadas
- specifically designed for married couples
- Uso para propietarios de negocios
- often useful
- Uso para patrimonios elevados
- commonly suited
- Uso benéfico
- not primary
- Complejidad relativa
- very high
- Nivel de costo típico
- very high
Posibles ventajas y limitaciones
Posibles ventajas
- Potential estate freeze
- Spousal beneficiary
- Descendant planning
- Possible grantor-trust benefits
Limitaciones y consideraciones
- Loss of donor access
- Marriage dependency
- Reciprocal-trust risk
- Administration and gift reporting
Errores comunes
Two identical trusts
Donor pays personal bills from trust
No divorce provision
Transfer leaves donor insecure
Cómo puede desarrollarse
One spouse gifts a diversified portfolio to a SLAT with an independent trustee for the other spouse and descendants; the donor keeps ample separate assets and the couple documents that distributions are not promised.
Solo ilustrativo. Distintos hechos, documentos, fechas y leyes estatales pueden modificar el análisis.
Preguntas sobre Spousal Lifetime Access Trust
What determines how this trust works?
The signed governing terms, valid funding, retained powers, trustee authority, beneficiary rights, administration, tax classification, timing, and applicable state and federal law—not the trust name by itself.
Does this kind of trust automatically reduce tax or protect assets?
No automatic result follows from the label. Income, gift, estate, and GST tax classifications are separate questions, and creditor treatment depends on the settlor's and beneficiaries' rights, governing law, timing, and administration.
What should be verified before creating or funding the trust?
Verify the objective, governing instrument, fiduciaries, beneficiary standards, title and transfer restrictions, valuation, tax reporting, liquidity, governing state, expected administration, costs, and advice from appropriately qualified professionals.
Sources
- IRS Form 709 and instructionsInternal Revenue Service · United States—federal
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, estate and gift taxesU.S. Government Publishing Office · United States—federal
- Internal Revenue Code, estate and gift tax subtitleU.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel · United States—federal
- Uniform Trust CodeUniform Law Commission · United States (general; state law varies)
Las fuentes respaldan afirmaciones educativas generales a partir de la fecha de revisión. Los materiales oficiales pueden cambiar, y los enlaces a las fuentes no reemplazan el análisis profesional específico a cada situación. No es asesoramiento legal, fiscal, de inversión ni contable.