For globally mobile families, estate planning is no longer just about assets and beneficiaries. It is also about jurisdiction. One of the most important planning questions is whether you are considered domiciled in the United States for estate-tax purposes.
That distinction matters because a non-U.S. citizen who is domiciled in the U.S. is generally exposed to U.S. estate tax on worldwide assets, while a non-U.S. citizen who is not domiciled is generally exposed only on U.S.-situs assets. For decedents dying in 2026, the federal basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000 per person, while nonresident non-citizen estate filings generally use the much lower $60,000 threshold associated with Form 706-NA.
The planning challenge is that estate-tax domicile is not the same as income-tax residency. It is a facts-and-circumstances analysis that can turn on where you live, whether you intend to remain, immigration status, family ties, business connections, and where your long-term life is anchored.
Prestige planning lens: The objective is not merely to avoid surprises. It is to engineer a coordinated plan — investment accounts, titling, trusts, life insurance, and tax strategy — so wealth transfers efficiently under the right jurisdictional assumptions.
Client Decision Tree: Are You Domiciled or Not?
Use this visual as a simplified screening framework before legal review. The final answer is fact-specific and should be coordinated with estate counsel and tax advisors.
Why families get tripped up
A client can live abroad and still retain U.S. estate-planning exposure. A foreign executive can live in the United States for years and still have transfer-tax uncertainty. A spouse might not be a U.S. citizen, which can disrupt use of the unlimited marital deduction unless a Qualified Domestic Trust (QDOT) is part of the plan.
In other words, the right estate strategy for a cross-border family depends on more than net worth. It also depends on citizenship, domicile, marital status, asset location, state-level tax considerations, trust structure, and how any foreign-country inheritance rules interact with the U.S. plan.
- Clarify status early. Do not assume that income-tax residence automatically answers the estate-tax question.
- Review asset location. U.S.-situs assets can create exposure even when the rest of the estate is offshore.
- Coordinate spousal planning. If a surviving spouse is not a U.S. citizen, review whether QDOT planning, gifting, beneficiary designations, and liquidity strategies are appropriate.
- Integrate the full plan. Estate planning should work alongside investment account structure, insurance, titling, and any foreign-country inheritance or forced-heirship rules.
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