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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Estate Planning

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Tuesday, June 17, 2025

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$297.00

This course is $0 with these passes:

CLE
CPE
ALL

This CLE/CPE webinar will provide estate planning advisers with a thorough and practical guide to the rules and structuring considerations for drafting qualified domestic trusts (QDOTs) for U.S. taxpayers with nonresident spouses. The panel will offer specific guidance on when to best employ QDOTs, discuss the risks and benefits of the trusts, detail trustee and withholding requirements, and provide precise drafting examples.

Faculty

Anthony V. Diosdi
Partner
Diosdi & Liu, LLP

Mr. Diosdi is an experienced trial lawyer who regularly defends individuals and corporations in matters involving tax controversies and government regulatory enforcement. He also has vast experience assisting clients who find themselves with unreported or undeclared bank accounts outside the U.S. Mr. Diosdi is acknowledged as one of the nation’s leading experts in contesting penalties associated with failing to file FBARs. In addition to representing clients in tax controversy matters, he advises clients on U.S. international tax matters, including tax planning with respect to their structures and transactions. In particular, Mr. Diosdi has experience advising on issues relating to tax treaties, pre-immigration planning for foreigners moving to the U.S., expatriation planning, tax planning for foreign companies doing business in the U.S., and subpart F income minimization. More recently, he has focused on helping clients navigate U.S. tax reform, including the regimes for Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income and Foreign-Derived Intangible Income, and the new limitations on foreign tax credits.

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Kerrin N.T. Liu
Partner
Diosdi & Liu, LLP

Ms. Liu focuses on civil tax litigation, representation before Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, domestic tax compliance, and international tax compliance. She has represented clients as second chair in trials before the United States Tax Court.  Kerrin also handled Internal Revenue Service, State of California, and FBI criminal investigation cases involving individuals and business entities. In addition, Ms. Liu has assisted clients in a broad range of tax resolution cases.

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Description

The estate tax exclusion amounts for U.S. taxpayers have changed the focus for most estate planners from estate tax avoidance to income and gift tax minimization. However, for U.S. taxpayers (or nonresident alien taxpayers with U.S. property) who have non-citizen spouses, estate tax planning remains a critical challenge. Estate planners and advisers to families with non-U.S. spouses must meet these challenges to avoid adverse tax consequences. For these taxpayers, a QDOT is often the only means of passing assets tax-free to non-citizen spouses.

There are various ways to structure a QDOT to benefit a non-citizen spouse. For a trust to qualify as a QDOT, the trust document must contain specific provisions addressing trustee requirements and withholding remittances on distributions to the non-citizen spouse, among other issues. Estate planning counsel must understand the components that must be part of a trust operating agreement for the trust to qualify as a QDOT.

Listen as our experienced panel provides a thorough and practical guide to QDOT strategies and structures, including sample language for critical provisions.

Outline

I. Estate tax exemptions for nonresidents

II. Terms of QDOTs

III. Withholding and trustee provisions

IV. Benefits and risks of QDOTs

V. Key structuring examples

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • What types of trusts qualify as QDOTs?
  • Structuring withholding provisions that will meet IRS requirements for QDOT designation
  • What specific trustee provisions and designations must a QDOT document contain to withstand IRS scrutiny?
  • Tax consequences and inclusions on death of U.S. spouse under various QDOT structures