Estate tax planning for married couples usually involves dividing the estate of the first spouse to die into two shares. 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. One share of the deceased spouse's estate for purposes of the federal estate tax is the portion of the deceased spouse's estate that is exempt from the federal estate tax. Assuming no "taxable gifts" were made during life, this amount is $13,990,000 in 2025. The $13,990,000 Tax Free Amount in 2025 is the $10 million basic exclusion amount per the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in December 2017, adjusted for inflation. The provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are scheduled to "sunset" (expire) at the end of 2025. Thus, unless those provisions are extended per federal legislation enacted in 2025, on January 1, 2026, the Tax Free Amount will drop back down to $5 million (the basic exclusion amount in effect prior to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act), and, when adjusted for inflation, is likely to be approximately $7 million. The balance of the deceased spouse's estate, i.e., the amount owned by the deceased spouse that exceeds the Tax Free Amount (if any) is usually left either to the surviving spouse, outright, or to a Marital Trust for the surviving spouse, to defer estate taxes on that excess amount until the death of the surviving spouse through application of the estate tax marital deduction. 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 the assets to persons chosen by the surviving spouse, such as a new spouse, who the deceased spouse would not want to benefit).