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

Arrangement by an employer in which employees share in profits of the business. To be a qualified plan, a predetermined formula must be used to determine contributions to the plan and ...

Actual amount of total losses paid by an insurance company during a specified time interval. ...

Entitlement to pension benefits without a reduction, even though an employee is no longer in the service of an employer at retirement. For example, under the ten year vesting rule, an ...

Under Section 1035 of the Internal Revenue Code, stipulation that the exchange of one life insurance policy for another life insurance policy will generally not result in a recognized gain ...

Coverage for liability exposure resulting from the activities of a business; includes: direct liability acts of the business resulting in damage or destruction of another party's property ...

Association of life insurance companies focusing on legislation and public relations that may affect the life insurance business on federal, state, and local levels. Membership is composed ...

Method of accessing capital by the insurance industry in order to hedge against a future catastrophic occurrence. The mechanism works as follows: Primary insurance company AJAX pays a ...

Annuity contract. If the annuitant dies before receiving income at least equal to the premiums paid, a beneficiary receives the difference in installments. If the annuitant lives after the ...

Insurance policy that pays a face amount/ lump sum if the insured is diagnosed with a specified critical illness. This sum is paid directly to the insured regardless of any other sources of ...

Popular Insurance Questions