Many Cumming area residents understand the importance of an estate plan in protecting their assets for future generations. But they may also be interested in creating an estate plan that allows them to help charitable organizations they find important. If you are interested in helping charitable organizations in your estate plan there are several options.
- Charitable trust. A charitable trust will hold assets in it under the name of the charity, but the donor will keep control over it during their lifetime. When the donor passes away the assets in the trust will go to the charity. When you have a charitable trust, you receive a tax donation whenever you put assets into the trust. There are many types of charitable trusts that you can discuss with an attorney who specializes in estate planning.
- Will. You can keep things simple by having a bequest written into your will for a charitable organization. The will can state that a charity is to receive a certain amount of dollars or a certain percentage of the estate. And of course, the will can be changed at any time.
- Revocable living trust. Many Georgia residents have created a revocable living trust. A planned gift to charity can be written into your trust documents as well.
- Life estate. If you own your home and planning on living there for the rest of your life you can create a life estate for the benefit of the organization. You can live in your property until you pass away and at that time it would transfer to the organization.
A legal professional who is skilled in estate planning can help their client understand their options when it comes to charitable giving using their estate plan. There are many different options that you can choose and depending on many factors, such as size of the estate and existing estate documents, some options may be better than others.
