Grantor-retained Income Trust (grit)

Definition of "Grantor-retained income trust (grit)"

Irrevocable trust into which the grantor places assets and retains the income from or the use of these assets for a stipulated period of time. At the termination of this time period, the principal (assets) of the trust is transferred to the grantor's non charitable beneficiary. The non charitable beneficiary may include individual (s) such as a grandchild, niece, nephew, son, or daughter. Should the grantor survive the stipulated period of time, he or she will incur substantial savings in estate and gift taxes. In order for these savings in taxes to occur, the following requirements must be met by the grantor:

  1. income to the grantor must be the sole result of the income generated by assets held in the trust.
  2. any income generated by the assets held in the trust can be paid only to the grantor of the trust.
  3. neither the grantor nor the spouse of the grantor can act as a trustee of the trust.
  4. any income retained by the grantor must be for a period of time not to exceed 10 years.
Should the grantor die before the stipulated period of time the trust expires, the value of the assets of the trust are included in the grantor's estate for FEDERAL ESTATE TAX purposes, even though the assets are not physically transferred to the estate of the grantor.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Insurance Terms

Form of insurance covering liability arising out of the provision or nonprovision of hospital services so as to have an action brought against the hospital for malpractice, error, or ...

Association comprised of 59 state and territorial emergency management directors having as its purpose the reduction of losses from natural disasters. The respective directors work directly ...

Feature of life and health insurance policies that stipulates that the policy represents the whole agreement between the insurance company and the insured, and that there are no other ...

Act in which volunteers of nonprofit organizations and government entities do not incur liability if they are acting within the scope of their volunteer activities, their actions do not ...

Frequency of premium payment; for example annually, semiannually, quarterly, or monthly. ...

Fairness (as an objective of insurance pricing). Premium rates are set according to expectation of loss among a classification of policy owners. The premise is that all insureds with the ...

Choice an employee can make of receiving higher private pension benefits prior to eligibility for Social Security, and lower pension benefits thereafter. For example, employees taking early ...

Annuity that continues income payments as long as one annuitant, out of two or more annuitants, remains alive. For example, a married couple would receive an income for as long as both ...

Insurance contract that cannot be cancelled by the insurance company. Since the insurance policy is a UNILATERAL CONTRACT instead of a BILATERAL CONTRACT, the INSURED may cancel at will. ...

Popular Insurance Questions