Americans with Adult Children Abroad
A child who has settled abroad is taxed there on what he or she receives, may not be able to serve as executor or trustee without consequences for the plan, and will need papers from the estate that a US probate court does not issue. The parents’ plan is drawn with the child’s country in view.
Law stated as of October 2026
In brief.
- A gift by a US parent is subject to US gift tax wherever the child lives; in 2026 the first USD 19,000 a year to each child is excluded (sections 2501 and 2503(b)).
- The child’s country may tax the same transfer because the child lives there, Germany on the whole acquisition of a resident recipient and France on property from abroad received by an heir domiciled there for six of the preceding ten years.
- A child abroad who is not a US citizen, named as trustee, can make a US trust a foreign trust for US tax purposes (Treas. Reg. § 301.7701-7).
- Income an estate or trust carries out to a child who is not a US person is withheld upon at 30 percent or the treaty rate (section 1441).
- Each state has its own rules for an executor who lives abroad; banks abroad ask the child for a certificate of inheritance rather than letters testamentary.
A Guide for Trustees and Executors. About 470 pages. In preparation; USD 200.
Publication noticeAmericans with ties to Germany are served on GermanyUSAlawtaxfinance.com, Americans with ties to France on FranceUSAlawtaxfinance.com, both in English.
Situations for parents with children abroad
Each page sets out what is happening, what has to happen and in what order, how the firm helps, and what documents to prepare for the initial consultation.
Americans whose adult children live abroad
The firm plans the gifts, the trusts and the fiduciaries with the tax of the child’s country in view.
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An estate in Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia or California has heirs abroad
The firm administers the estate from probate to the final distribution to the heirs abroad.
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An estate or trust is paying a beneficiary abroad
The firm determines the withholding and the treaty position and prepares the forms before the payment.
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Americans with property and accounts abroad
The firm brings the foreign assets into the U.S. estate plan and coordinates foreign wills and the reporting.
Situation →Providing for a child in another country
Gifts to a child abroad
The US gift tax and annual exclusion, the gift tax of the child’s country and its allowances, and the order of the gifts.
Trusts for a child abroad
Trustees and powers that keep the trust a US trust, and the tax of the child’s country on each distribution.
The child as executor or trustee
The rules of the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and California, and the co-fiduciary where the child cannot serve.
Inherited retirement accounts
The ten-year rule, the withholding on each payment to a beneficiary abroad and the treaty claim.
Children with two citizenships
A child who is a US citizen files US returns wherever he or she lives; a child who is not is withheld upon.
The child’s bank abroad
Certificates of inheritance, apostilles and translations prepared for the release of the accounts.
Material for americans with adult children abroad
Describe the family
Where each child lives, which citizenships each holds and what the parents own. The firm replies with the questions that need an answer and how it would proceed.