SLATs: Estate Planning You Can Still Access

By FiduciaryCalculator Editorial · 8 min read · Updated 2026-06-05

A spousal lifetime access trust removes assets from your estate while letting your spouse tap them if needed. Here's how it threads that needle.

The problem SLATs solve

The fastest way to reduce estate tax is to give assets away now, removing them and their future growth from your taxable estate. But most people hesitate to part with wealth they might still need. A spousal lifetime access trust (SLAT) is designed to resolve that tension.

You make a completed gift to an irrevocable trust for the benefit of your spouse (and often your children). The assets leave your estate, yet because your spouse is a beneficiary, the family retains indirect access to the funds. The SLAT Calculator estimates the estate tax this strategy can save.

Locking in today's exemption and growth

When you fund a SLAT, you use part of your lifetime gift exemption, and everything the trust earns afterward grows outside your estate. Transfer $10 million that doubles over 25 years, and roughly $10 million of appreciation escapes the 40% estate tax — a savings of about $4 million on the growth alone.

This is why SLATs are popular when exemptions are high: you capture today's large exemption and shift future appreciation out of the estate before it can balloon.

SLAT vs. an outright gift

An outright gift to your children removes the same value from your estate, but you and your spouse lose all access to it. A SLAT removes the value while keeping a back door open: distributions to your spouse can indirectly benefit the household.

That access is also the catch — it depends on the marriage continuing and the spouse surviving. If the beneficiary spouse dies or you divorce, the access disappears, which is the central risk to weigh.

The reciprocal trust trap

Couples often want each spouse to create a SLAT for the other, so both retain access. Done carelessly, the IRS can 'uncross' these trusts under the reciprocal trust doctrine and pull the assets back into both estates, defeating the plan.

Avoiding this requires making the two trusts meaningfully different — different funding amounts, terms, powers, and timing. This is precise, technical drafting that must be handled by an experienced estate attorney.

Is a SLAT right for you?

SLATs fit married couples with estates likely to exceed the exemption, a stable marriage, and assets they can afford to give away while relying on spousal access as a safety net. They are irrevocable, so they demand confidence in the plan.

Because the stakes and the drafting complexity are high, pair a fiduciary advisor with a qualified estate attorney. Life insurance is sometimes layered in to hedge the risk of the beneficiary spouse's early death.