Matthew J. Tobin

This doesn’t happen often, but it affects more people than you would think—and it’s important. It’s true that there is an unlimited marital deduction when it comes to estate taxes between spouses. But that holds true only if your spouse is a U.S. citizen. If not, the most you can leave him or her is $600,000.
In other words, if Mom in Sherry’s family was not a U.S. citizen, if Pop left her the business through his will, she would owe $150,000 in estate taxes. And if she were to pass the business down to her sons, they would still owe an additional $150,000 in estate taxes.
There’s a way around this. If you or the spouse who isn’t a U.S. citizen has a child who is a U.S. citizen, hopefully who you feel is trustworthy and reliable, that child, when he is of age, can act as one of the trustees for or with the non citizen spouse, thereby passing on the assets without their being taxed. However, if the estate is worth more than $2 million, the laws are unbelievably complex, so you must see an attorney at once.