Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: A B Trusts

An AB Trust is usually a joint trust created by a husband and wife which divides their property into two parts when the first one dies. The A trust is usually the survivor's share of the property and the B trust is usually the share of the decedent's property. It is commonly used for estate tax planning with the decedent's share of property at least up to the amount then exempt from estate taxes placed in the B trust to avoid estate taxation on that property and the balance placed in the survivors (or A trust). The estate tax planning idea is that on joint estates where there is less than $1,300,000 in combined value, the entire combined estate can be sheletered from the estate tax which currently exempts $650,000 per person from the estate tax where the estate plan creates at least two trusts at the first spouse's death.