Quick answer: no portability, and no separate DC-only QTIP mechanism — DC's marital deduction simply follows the federal rules. Run your own numbers in the DC estate tax calculator.
One exclusion per spouse, confirmed directly
No separate DC QTIP, unlike several other states
Several other states with an estate tax — Maine, Minnesota, Illinois, Connecticut, and Rhode Island among them — let an executor make a state-only QTIP election independent of the federal one. DC doesn't offer a comparable, separately documented mechanism: its taxable estate generally follows the federal taxable estate, which already reflects whatever marital deduction was elected on the federal return.
The marital deduction itself still applies
Property passing to a surviving spouse still qualifies for the marital deduction the same way it does federally, reducing the taxable estate at the first death. There's simply no additional, DC-specific dollar cap or separate election layered on top of the federal treatment.
The standard workaround: bypass trust planning
Because there's no portability, DC couples typically rely on a credit shelter (bypass) trust to make sure the first spouse's own exclusion is actually used at the first death, rather than passing everything outright to the survivor and losing it entirely.
A local probate attorney can review your estate — many offer a free consultation.
See the full threshold and rate breakdown for how the banded schedule applies once an estate exceeds its own exclusion.