Estate Planning Newsletter

• Calculating Fair Market Value for Charitable Donations of Property
  The U.S. government has long encouraged citizens to contribute to charity. One method of encouraging philanthropic giving is the allowance of deductions from income for federal tax purposes for donations to “qualified”... Read more.
• Life Insurance Uses
  There are numerous uses for life insurance. Some are obvious; others are very creative. Some of the most common uses include paying estate taxes, estate administration, inheritance equalizing and many others. Estate Taxes... Read more.
• Designating Another to Make Health Care Decisions
  A power of attorney is a document that authorizes one or more individuals (collectively referred to as the “agent” or “attorney-in-fact”) to act on behalf of the person executing the document (the... Read more.
• Permitting Posthumously Conceived Children to Inherit From a Deceased Parent
  Several states refer to children who are born or adopted after the execution of a parent’s will and omitted from the provisions of the testamentary instrument as “omitted” or “pretermitted” children. In the... Read more.

• 6 Reasons Why You Need An Estate Plan
• Two Key Estate-Planning Documents You Need
• How To Turn Your Estate Plan Into A Legacy Plan
• 4 overlooked items to include in your estate plan
• PLANNING AHEAD: Why revocable or irrevocable trusts for estate planning

Trusts & Charity

It is possible to set up a trust for charitable purposes. Charitable trusts are quite common, but certain requirements must be met.

Purpose of a Charitable Gift

Reasons for charitable gifts funded through a trust include the desire to:

• Help relieve poverty
• Help the elderly
• Advance a religion
• Benefit educational establishments
• Aid with the construction or maintenance of public property (such as a park)
• Prevent animal cruelty

How Are Beneficiaries Designated?

In general, beneficiaries of charitable gifts must have a broader scope:

• Cannot be specifically named people
• Can be a class of persons
• May be institutions

In some cases, a charitable gift may be given to a non-charitable organization. However, there must be a charitable intent; otherwise the trust is invalid as a charitable trust.

Supervision & Regulation

In some states, the office of the Attorney General oversees charitable trust activity. The Attorney General’s duties in this regard include:

• Maintaining a register of charitable corporations, trustees, and trusts
• Investigating transactions relating to charitable trusts
• Enforcing charitable trusts
• Recovering property on behalf of a charitable trust

Cy Pres Doctrine

If your charitable wishes cannot be fulfilled for some reason, the appropriate court will attempt to carry out your wishes by giving the property to an organization with a related charitable purpose. For example, a charitable trust set up to eradicate polio may instead be given to aid a pediatric foundation.

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