Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Washington

Estate taxes for non-US citizens
My wife is a US citizen, I am not, but a legal resident.
What are the death tax implications of this situation if 1) I should die first, 2) my wife should die first. We each have wills that basically leave everything to the surviving spouse.
For instance, if I die first, will my half of the estate be subject to death taxes, and not subject to the $600,000 exemption (current amount I believe). In other words would she have to pay death taxes on my half of the estate evne if it was valued at less than the exemption amount.
Also, if she dies first, will her half of the estate automatically pass to me without taxes due?

Asked on 8/04/02, 12:01 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Bruce Busch Bruce R. Busch, Attorney at Law

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Re: Estate taxes for non-US citizens

I see that no one else has answered your question thus far. I do not know the precise answer off the tip of my tongue. I'd have to look that one up. However, I believe your (non-citizen) exemption is in the neighborhood of $200,000 -- perhaps more now. Your wife's exemption is $1,000,000 (the $600,000 figure you mentioned is quite an old figure). If you died first and you left everything to your spouse I believe the citizenship issue would not matter -- there is no estate tax due on transfers at death between spouses. However, you should probably confirm this. You could utilize a credit shelter trust or similar instrument to save a portion of taxes due at the second spouse's death. This is the best I can do without doing some further research in the issue and I'm not inclined to do that without a fee arrangement. I am sure you understand. So I hope this helps or at least gets you started.

Answered on 8/10/02, 10:56 pm

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