Qualified Personal Residence Trust: What Is It and When Should You Consider One?
Americans have enjoyed historically high estate tax exemption rates for most of the last twenty years. Such high exemption amounts have kept many of them from needing to seek out more advanced estate planning strategies to avoid estate taxes, which have been as high as 60 percent during those same years. However, it is uncertain what the estate tax exemption amounts and rates will be in the future. The current federal administration may decide to reduce the estate tax exemption amounts in an effort to raise revenue to fund many of the high-cost government programs being implemented today. Therefore, for individuals and families whose wealth is significant enough that their estates could be subject to estate taxes, it can be important to be aware of some of the tried-and-true strategies for reducing their taxable estate’s value to avoid paying more tax at death than absolutely necessary. One strategy is the qualified personal residence trust (QPRT).