Qualifying Domestic Trust - QDOT Definition
Qualifying Domestic Trust - QDOT is a trust into which the founder deposits funds to provide for a surviving, non-U.S. citizen spouse while also maintaining control of what happens to those assets after the surviving spouse dies. The trust allows the surviving spouse to avoid estate taxes to which the non-American spouse would otherwise be subject. Otherwise spouses without citizenship would not be eligible for the marital deduction.