To qualify a QTIP property for the marital deduction, the executor must do which of the following?

To qualify a QTIP property for the marital deduction, the executor must do which of the following?

• A. Elects to qualify it by listing the QTIP on the marital deduction schedule of the Estate Tax Return.
• B. Files a formal petition with the court.
• C. Gets unanimous, written consent of all present and future beneficiaries.
• D. Gets certain beneficiaries to disclaim.

Answer: (D)

The key idea is how a QTIP trust earns the unlimited marital deduction: the surviving spouse must have a bona fide interest to receive all the trust income for life, with no one else having a current right to that income during the spouse’s lifetime. Getting certain beneficiaries to disclaim their interests helps achieve that clean, spouse-only income entitlement. When those potential beneficiaries disclaim, the trust behaves as if those interests never existed, leaving the surviving spouse as the sole income beneficiary for life and ensuring the property qualifies for the QTIP election on the estate tax return. This is why obtaining those disclaimers is the step that makes the QTIP property eligible for the marital deduction. The other options don’t align with how QTIP qualification is established—they involve procedural moves or consent that aren’t the mechanism for meeting the QTIP requirements.

The key idea is how a QTIP trust earns the unlimited marital deduction: the surviving spouse must have a bona fide interest to receive all the trust income for life, with no one else having a current right to that income during the spouse’s lifetime. Getting certain beneficiaries to disclaim their interests helps achieve that clean, spouse-only income entitlement. When those potential beneficiaries disclaim, the trust behaves as if those interests never existed, leaving the surviving spouse as the sole income beneficiary for life and ensuring the property qualifies for the QTIP election on the estate tax return. This is why obtaining those disclaimers is the step that makes the QTIP property eligible for the marital deduction. The other options don’t align with how QTIP qualification is established—they involve procedural moves or consent that aren’t the mechanism for meeting the QTIP requirements.