Charitable Planning 

Lifetime and Testamentary Gifts

    Federal gift tax allows an annual exclusion of $14,000, subject to inflation adjustments.  In addition, you can gift $5,000,000 (adjusted for inflation) during your lifetime without paying any gift tax.  This amount is tied to the amount you can pass tax-free on your death. 

Charitable Lead Trusts

    A charitable lead trust is a type of irrevocable trust that pays trust income to a charity or charities (known as the lead interest) for a specific term, measured by someone’s life or a specified number of years.  After the trust term ends, the trust assets are returned to you or passed on to your children, grandchildren or other loved ones.  This remainder interest passes to your family free of estate tax in most instances. 

Charitable Remainder Trusts

    A charitable remainder trust is an irrevocable trust that pays an income stream for a specific period of time to a noncharitable beneficiary or beneficiaries (such as you and your spouse) for life or for a specific number of years (up to 20 years) and then pays the remainder to a charity.  A charitable remainder trust reduces your estate tax because you are transferring assets into the trust that would otherwise be counted for estate tax purposes.