The “A/B” trust is a very common set-up for married couples in the estate planning world.  I should say there are different names for these trusts. I call it an A/B Trust. Others may be call it a Bypass trust, a credit trust or even a 1/2 trust. Whatever you call it a split trust is a common estate planning vehicle. How does it work?

There are 4 main options for a standard husband and wife to consider in trust planning. That is, at the first death what happens to the trust.

1) Totally revocable: This is the simplest trust. I call it a “probate avoidance” trust. It’s the simplest and most straight forward trust. The downside though is that the surviving spouse can completely change the trust and disinherit the kids. However, assuming no estate tax issues this is a good option for many people with more modest estate sizes.

2) A/B Disclaimer Trust: This is a very common trust set up for married couples. It allows the surviving spouse to “disclaim” assets within 9 months of death of the first spouse’s death. This is typically if they are concerned about estate taxes or if they are very concerned about making a bad decision in the future as it limits their ability to change the trust to the A trust as the B trust is irrevocable after the first death.

3) Mandatory A/B Trust: This is common for second marriages or for people with inherited or other separate property assets. It mandates a split into two trusts at the first death. For a long time it was the predominant trust utilized by estate planning attorneys. However, with the great changes in estate tax exemptions the mandatory A/B is used less often now.

4) Totally irrevocable: This is only for elderly people in my opinion. That is, your basic husband/wife trust should not be totally irrevocable at the first death unless you are really confident you won’t get remarried or want to make any changes.  I say 85 years old and up for this. In fact, this trust is the least used of the four.

Whatever trust works for you works for me. There are many A/B trust options so pick what works for you!  Let me know if you questions about your trust set up!  -John