exemption trust no longer needed

[kembleco]

With the escalation of the exempt amount for filing 706's many older revocable trusts that provided for the setting up of an exemption trust along side of a survivors at the 1st death seem no longer needed. Can a successor trustee simply not fund the exemption trust? In my specific case the total revocable trust is $1 million and the survivor receives all income from the exemption trust. So there is no ultimate tax difference if the exemption trust remains unfunded.

[appelman]

It's the survivor's trust that may not be funded.

Usually, the wording in the trust document says that the exemption trust is funded up to the limit of (surprise!) the estate tax exemption. If assets don't reach that limit, there is nothing left to fund the survivor's trust. The trustee does not ordinarily have authority to alter this arrangement.