Disclaimer Trust

A disclaimer trust is one that has embedded provisions (usually contained in a will) that allow a surviving spouse to put specific assets under the trust by disclaiming ownership of a portion of the estate. Disclaimed property interests are then transferred to the trust, without being taxed.

Provisions can be written into the trust that provide for regular payouts from the trust to support survivors. For example a trust can provide for surviving minor children as long as the surviving spouse elects to disclaim inherited assets, passing them on to the trust.

For example, if an individual passes away and leaves her husband an estate, he may disclaim some interests in the estate, which then pass directly to the trust as though it were the original beneficiary. Minor children could then benefit from regular payouts.

Disclaimer trusts require that the survivor act according to the wishes of the deceased, and disclaim ownership of some of the assets that the deceased has bequeathed. In the above example, if the surviving spouse does not disclaim ownership of any portion of the estate, then the deceased's wish to transfer assets to the surviving minor children goes unfulfilled. Because of the legal complexities involved, these trusts should only be set up by qualified professionals.

As another example of a trust in which assets move through to additional beneficiaries is a see-through trust. This is a fund that is treated as the beneficiary of an individual retirement account (IRA). See-through trusts use the life expectancies of the beneficiaries to determine the required minimum distributions (RMD) that will occur after the death of the retirement account holder. Individual retirement account (IRA) owners are able to choose their beneficiary, and federal laws prohibit accounts from continuing on indefinitely.

Disclaimer trusts, along with other trusts, can bring up challenges with regard to inheritance. These are usually set out clearly in a grantor’s will; however, if a will is not finalized at the time of death, determining rightful heirs proves much more complicated. In most countries, inheritances are taxable. An inheritance tax is generally distinct from an estate tax in that an inheritance tax would aim to tax the heir who has received the inheritance, while an estate tax would apply to the assets of the deceased's estate.