Issues Family Offices Face When a Client Marries a Noncitizen

Most family offices that serve U.S. families are well aware that special planning considerations can arise when a U.S. citizen family member marries a noncitizen. Should the client’s estate plan be revised to incorporate a qualified domestic trust (QDOT) to ensure that assets passing to the surviving noncitizen spouse qualify for federal estate tax marital deduction? Here are four important, but often overlooked, planning scenarios that family offices and advisors should review proactively in anticipation of a client’s marriage to a noncitizen: 1) S corporation planning; 2) premarital agreements; 3) trust beneficiaries residing abroad; and 4) trustees residing abroad.