The Unlimited Marital Deduction

There is no estate tax liability for assets passing from a deceased spouse to the surviving spouse. Both Ohio and federal provide for an unlimited marital deduction for the transfer of property between spouses. This is based upon the view that the husband and wife are one economic unit.

The marital deduction applies to transfers during lifetime and at death. The deduction is only for U.S. citizens regarding property passing from one spouse to the other (the citizenship requirement is to ensure that the government can ultimately collect the estate tax from the surviving spouse's estate). This is one reason that estate planning attorneys want to confirm that husband and wife are both U.S. citizens (especially with Ohio's close proximity to Canada).

Technically, the marital deduction simply defers the estate tax and does not avoid it. While an outright bequest of decedent’s entire estate to a spouse will eliminate estate tax at the decedent’s death, the surviving spouse’s estate will be taxed on all of the assets transferred from decedent (that is unless the surviving spouse consumes or gifts away the assets). As a consequence, the marital deduction simply defers the tax to the second estate.