Charitable Gift Planning
Many people utilize estate planning as a way to benefit the loved ones they will leave behind, but it also offers an opportunity to establish or build a lasting legacy in support of the causes that are important to you. Charitable giving can model a philanthropic mindset for children and others who will learn from your example. Finally, gifts made either during your lifetime or at your death under your Will, revocable living trust (RLT), or beneficiary designations will receive the benefit of favorable tax treatment, and are a great way to maximize the benefit of highly appreciated assets during your life or tax deferred savings (such as IRAs) at your death that would otherwise carry a large tax burden.
Charitable Giving and Creating Charitable Gifts
Charitable giving techniques are available to help you provide for your favorite charities at a significantly lower cost to either you or your desired individual beneficiaries. Whether or not your estate is large enough to trigger estate taxes, a lifetime planning strategy created by a skilled estate and tax planning lawyer can help you to create potentially significant social capital.
Some options to consider include:
- Qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) made from a taxpayer’s Individual Retirement Account (IRA) directly to a qualified charity
- Donor advised funds (DAFs)
- Supporting organizations (SOs)
- Private foundations (PFs)
- Charitable remainder trusts (CRTs)
- Charitable gift annuities (CGAs)
- Charitable lead trusts (CLTs)
- Bequests under Wills or Revocable Living Trusts (RLTs)
Properly planned and implemented, your family’s charitable efforts should help pass on not only your property, but also your principles, character, and ethics. A family’s charitable foundation can allow the family to donate assets to a charity they (practically or legally) control and can allow family members to gain experience in running a charitable organization. Many community foundations have programs designed to help families develop and manage their family’s charitable foundations, reducing both the cost and the effort of setting up and operating this type of organization.
Those who have a true passion for charitable activity may even consider creating a new operating private foundation or a public charity. With these types of organizations, you will be the one providing the desired charitable activities / benefits rather than just financially supporting other charitable organizations.
The estate planning attorneys at Morgan & DiSalvo in Alpharetta, Georgia can explain the various charitable planning tools and help you craft a charitable giving plan that aligns with your family, philanthropic, and tax goals.
| For more information, please see: |
| Charitable Giving and Social Capital |
| Ethical Wills 2.0: Old School and Next Level Options to Communicate What is Really Important to Your Loved Ones |
| (Video) Ethical Wills |