You may find yourself fortunate enough to be in a financial situation that has allowed you to make significant contributions to charitable organizations throughout most of your lifetime. With this, you may want to maintain the capability to make such donations even when you are, unfortunately, no longer around. This is when charitable planning may serve as beneficial. Continue reading to learn how charitable planning can be a benefit to your estate plan and how an experienced Putnam County estate planning attorney at the Law Office of Andres D. Gil, PLLC can work to establish the necessary documents.
Should I consider charitable planning in my estate plan?
Put simply, including charitable planning in your estate plan may just make sense for your current financial status. Below are just some benefits of establishing such a plan:
- Your plan may allow you to make gifts during your lifetime so that you may receive federal income tax deductions.
- Your plan may allow you to make gifts during your lifetime so that you may avoid future capital gains taxes on appreciated assets.
- Your plan may allow a charitable organization to receive your assets during your lifetime rather than having to wait until your unfortunate passing.
- Your plan may allow a charitable organization to predict future assets so that it can plan its budget accordingly.
What documents help with charitable planning?
There are several ways in which you may incorporate charitable planning into your estate plan, more than you may initially realize. Of note, some plans may allow your contributions to be tax-free or otherwise allow the charitable organization to benefit from significant tax savings. Without further ado, possible ways to execute your charitable planning are as follows:
- You may designate a charitable organization to be the beneficiary of your life insurance policy, so that they may receive a lifetime gift or bequest on death.
- You may gift a charitable organization with all or a portion of your retirement plan, so that they may be relieved from paying income taxes.
- You may establish a charitable leads trust, so that part of your trust assets may be distributed to a charitable organization over some time and then the remaining assets may be distributed to your other beneficiary.
- You may establish a charitable remainder trust, so that part of your trust assets may be distributed to your designated beneficiary and then the remaining assets may be distributed to a charitable organization upon your passing.
Incorporating the aforementioned documents into your estate plan requires great strategy. For this reason alone, you must consult with a skilled Putnam County estate planning attorney immediately. Our team at the Law Office of Andres D. Gil, PLLC is happy to advise you.