When a person's spouse is not a United State's Citizen there is a chance that the estate will not be allowed to enjoy the benefits of the marital deduction. However, a qualified domestic trust can be created to allow the non-U.S. citizen to continue to be supported by the deceased spouse's assets. When a QDOT is set up, the assets placed in it are taxed as part of the deceased spouses estate and do not become a part of the non-citizen's estate. This prevents the estate from avoiding the estate tax altogether which is what would happen if the assets were transferred to a non-U.S. citizen. In this manner, the estate tax is collected and the non-citizen spouse continues to receive support in the form of income from the estate which is only subject to income tax.