Estate tax planning for married couples usually involves dividing all the assets into two shares, one share owned by each spouse.  Remember that most, if not all, assets on hand when the first spouse dies are likely to be community property.  Therefore, the estate of the first spouse to die (sometimes referred to as the "deceased spouse") consists of the deceased spouse's half of the community property plus the deceased spouse's separate property, if any. (A married couple's estate plan can be set out either in separate Wills or in a revocable (living) trust, which is usually a joint revocable trust in Texas.  NOTE: We will just use the term "Will" to refer to both instruments.)  The deceased spouse's ownership interest in the assets constitutes his or her estate for federal estate tax purposes.  Assuming no "taxable gifts" were made by the deceased spouse during life, the deceased spouse's estate would have available to it the 2026 estate tax exclusion amount, which is $15,000,000.  We will refer to the $15,000,000 estate tax exclusion amount as the "Tax Free Amount." The balance of the deceased spouse's estate, if any (i.e., the amount owned by the deceased spouse that exceeds the Tax Free Amount) is usually left either outright to the surviving spouse or to a Marital Trust for the surviving spouse.  If the surviving spouse is a U. S. citizen, this distribution will qualify for the estate tax marital deduction and, thus, will defer estate taxes on that excess amount until the death of the surviving spouse.  This excess amount can be referred to as the "Marital Deduction Amount." The decision whether to leave the Marital Deduction Amount outright to the surviving spouse or to a Marital Trust is based primarily on (i) the total value of the excess amount (is it sufficient to justify another trust?), (ii) the need or desire to protect the excess amount from creditors' claims (such as a tort creditor who sues the surviving spouse and obtains a judgment), and (iii) the deceased spouse's desire for "ultimate control"–to control where the assets remaining in the Marital Trust go when the surviving spouse dies (or, put another way, to prevent the surviving spouse from directing these assets to persons chosen by the surviving spouse, such as a new spouse, who the deceased spouse would not want to benefit).