A grantor retained unitrust, or GRUT, is reviewed when a grantor wants to keep a payout that changes with the value of the trust property during the retained term. Like a GRAT, it is an advanced retained-interest trust, but the payout design is different because the amount changes as the trust value changes.
Last reviewed: March 9, 2026
Reviewed against: trust and estate planning references listed on the sources page.
Publisher: Larry Trustee AI Editorial Team | hello@larrytrustee.ai
The grantor transfers assets into the trust and keeps a unitrust payout calculated from trust value instead of a fixed annuity number. Because the payout changes with valuation, the structure is often reviewed for assets where variable value may matter to the planning decision.
A grantor retained unitrust, or GRUT, is a retained-interest trust reviewed when the grantor keeps a unitrust payout that changes with trust value.
A GRUT payout is tied to a percentage of trust value, while a GRAT uses a fixed annuity amount during the retained term.
People review GRUTs to analyze changing payout values, retained-interest planning, and whether a unitrust format better matches the assets involved.