Estate Planning · Haute Lawyer Network
What Is a QTIP Trust?
Last reviewed: June 2026
A Qualified Terminable Interest Property (QTIP) trust is an estate planning tool used primarily in blended families. It provides income to the surviving spouse during their lifetime while preserving the trust principal for the grantor's children — often children from a prior marriage.
Assets transferred to a QTIP trust qualify for the unlimited marital deduction — no estate tax on the first death — but the trust controls where the assets go at the surviving spouse's death.
The grantor — not the surviving spouse — determines the ultimate beneficiaries. The surviving spouse receives all income but cannot direct who receives the principal at their death.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why would someone use a QTIP trust instead of leaving assets directly to a spouse?
To ensure the assets ultimately pass to their own children rather than to the surviving spouse's new family if they remarry.
What is the marital deduction?
An unlimited federal estate tax deduction for transfers to a surviving U.S. citizen spouse. QTIP trust assets qualify for this deduction on the first death.
Can the surviving spouse access principal from a QTIP trust?
Only if the trust document provides for it — typically limited to health, education, maintenance, and support.
What happens to the QTIP trust when the surviving spouse dies?
The assets are included in the surviving spouse's taxable estate, then pass to the beneficiaries named by the original grantor.
Can you combine a QTIP trust with a bypass trust?
Yes. Many estate plans use a bypass trust to fund up to the estate tax exemption and a QTIP trust for the remaining marital assets.
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