Writing in the February 10, 2009 edition of The Wall Street Journal, Mike Spector suggests that although investors aren't in a giving mood these days, the deepening recession and a low hurdle rate presents a rare opportunity for some people: the charitable lead trust.  MORE »

One of the greatest planning challenges for many philanthropists is to balance their goals of providing for charity in the immediate term and family members long-term. In this case study, The Sharpe Group illustrates how a couple concerned about an uncertain gift and estate tax environment uses an inter vivos nongrantor nonrersionary charitable lead annuity trust as a "temporary" private foundation.  MORE »

Looking for an alternative or supplemental investment for a nongrantor charitable lead annuity trust? In this article from the August/September 2004 issue of the Journal of Practical Estate Planning, David Holaday and Rodney Piercey discuss the benefits and design considerations of using a combination of life insurance and single premium immediate annuity as the investment engine in a family limited partnership used to fund a charitable lead annuity trust.  MORE »

In a previous article from the Journal of Practical Estate Planning, Kansas gift planner Ronald D. Philgreen, CLU, ChFC shared the "charitable buckets" concept he developed to educate clients about charitable remainder trusts. What is a "reverse" charitable bucket? Click through and Ron will "lead" the discussion.  MORE »

In this edition of Gift Planner's Digest, Robert Lew and Darryl Ott, Esq. provide a concise overview of the variety of charitable lead trusts and provide eight creative case studies that illustrate their application.  MORE »

Charitable lead trusts ("CLTs") are designed to provide income payments to at least one qualified charitable organization for a period measured by a fixed term of years, the lives of one or more individuals, or a combination of the two; after which, trust assets are paid to either the grantor or to one or more noncharitable beneficiaries named in the trust instrument. This comprehensive paper provides a complete technical overview of charitable lead trusts; how charitable deductions are determined for income, gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax purposes; the taxation of charitable lead trusts; income tax considerations for grantors and beneficiaries; and private foundation excise tax rules.  MORE »

A charitable lead trust can be qualified or non-qualified, and either a grantor or non-grantor trust. Establishing a CLT now when interest rates are low may well increase the overall return on investment for the donor's family. In this article from the February 2003 issue of Estate Planning Journal, attorney Andrew M. Grumet of Herrick, Feinstein LLP, New York City and New Jersey, reviews the various types of charitable lead trusts and how planners can design them to accomplish clients' philanthropic and personal planning objectives.  MORE »

Interested in some number crunching? In this edition of Gift Planner's Digest, Peter Melcher, Matthew Zuengler and Caryl Shortridge Peters from the Wisconsin accounting and consulting firm of Virchow, Krause & Co. provide a quantitative analysis of the testamentary charitable lead trust.  MORE »

A testamentary CLT can be a useful charitable and estate planning technique, even for donors of relatively modest means. Formula provisions in testamentary CLTs are helpful because there are many unknown variables when a testamentary CLT instrument is prepared. A number of private letter rulings showing formulas for setting the term of a testamentary CLT and/or the charitable payout of the CLT are reviewed in this article.  MORE »

In this article, Daniel L. Daniels, Esquire, and David T. Leibell, Esquire review the basics of charitable lead trusts and some of the main issues involved in their use.

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