Charitable Planning

At Gudorf Law Group, LLC, our attorneys and financial professionals work with clients who have spent decades accumulating wealth for the benefit of their families and organizations and causes that are important to them. Planned gifts and charitable trusts allow them to fulfill multiple goals: receiving lifetime income; providing for family and future generations; supporting worthy charities; and minimizing tax consequences for themselves and their beneficiaries.

We meet with our clients to evaluate their needs and goals, and advise as to the charitable planning tools that will yield the most significant tax benefits for them and their families.

Types of Planned Gifts and Charitable Trusts

Planned gifts offer a variety of benefits, not least of which is the satisfaction of knowing you are supporting organizations that are important to you and your family. Depending on your need for income during your lifetime, your desire to preserve assets for heirs, and your tax situation, there are a variety of strategies for charitable planning. These include:

• Charitable Lead Trusts: reduce beneficiaries' taxable income by donating a portion of the trust's income to charities for a specified period, and then transferring the remaining trust assets to the beneficiaries.
• Charitable Remainder Trusts: provide for a specified distribution, at least annually, to an income recipient or recipients for a specified term, with the remainder interest paid to a charitable beneficiary.
• Donor-Advised Funds or Trusts: allow donors to make tax-deductible contributions to a fund established by a charity, then recommend grants to the charity from the fund.
• Life Income Gifts: allow a donor to irrevocably transfer assets to a charity, but retain an income interest in the property during his or her life.
• Private Foundations: non-profit organizations created by a single private donation, and advised by their own directors or trustees.
• Charitable Gift Annuities: simultaneously offer an income-tax deduction, a guaranteed income stream for life, and a charitable donation.
• Gifts of Real Estate with Retained Life Estate in the Donor: allow a donor to use property during life, with the knowledge it will go to a charity after death.
• Making a Charity Beneficiary of Retirement Benefits: allows a donor to receive the tax benefit of naming a charity as surviving beneficiary on a retirement plan.

The tax advisory professionals at Gudorf Law Group can explore these and other options with you and explain the relative merits of each, including their impact on your overall tax burden.

Advantages of Charitable Planning

Charitable planning helps your charities by providing them with predictable income, and sometimes by allowing them to receive income during your life, rather than waiting until you pass away. Charitable planning helps you minimize income tax by reducing taxable income during your life through deductible gifts. Planning also reduces gift and estate taxes, and reduces capital gains taxes as well when you donate property such as stock or real estate that has appreciated significantly since its acquisition.

Gudorf Law Group knows how important it is to our clients to continue to make a positive impact on their communities while also making wise financial and tax planning decisions . We look forward to partnering with you to advance your charitable planning goals. Contact Gudorf Law Group using our online contact form or at 937-898-5583 to schedule a consultation.