A QPRT removes your home, a substantial asset, from your estate now, yet you can continue to live there. It allows you to transfer your home to a trust (QPRT) for a period of time, usually 10-15 years. During this time, you continue to live there. When the trust term is up, the home transfers to the trust beneficiaries, usually your children. If you wish to stay there longer, you may make arrangements to pay rent. If you die before the trust term ends, your home will be included in your estate, just as it would without a QPRT.

A QPRT “leverages” your estate tax exemption. Since your children will not receive the house until the trust ends, its value as a gift is reduced. For example, if the current value of your home is $250,000 and you put it in a QPRT for 15 years, its value for tax purposes could be as little as $75,000. That leaves much more of your exemption for other assets.