What is a Qualified Domestic Trust?

The marital deduction for federal estate taxes which is the provision in the tax law that exempts from estate taxes any amounts left to a surviving spouse does not apply if the surviving spouse is not a United States citizen unless a specific type of trust called a Qualified Domestic Trust of QDOT is used. This trust has specific legal conditions that must be met in order to be effective, but is very helpful where a surviving spouse is not a citizen.