Family

Turning a CGA Into Season Tickets

Rebecca is a 75-year-old widow who loves attending the opera. She has been a season-ticket holder for years, but is considering dropping her subscription because she is concerned about the cost.

Using a Charitable Remainder Trust to Take Care of Your Loved Ones

Cynthia and Philip, both retired professors, are married and still in love after all these years. They have a combined wealth of approximately $1 million, and each recieve Social Security and a pension.

Estate Tax exemption for 2015

The basic federal estate-tax exclusion amount for estate of people who die in 2015 is $5,430,000, up from $5,340,000 in 2014.

Trusts

Trusts are a key aspect of non-charitable estate planning. Yet they are important for gift officers to have a handle on, both because it works to your advantage to have a complex understanding of the potential goals and avenues available to your benefactors, and

Choosing a Trustee

Having a competent trustee is as important to the success of a trust as its being well-drafted. Naming a favored family member as trustee may be neither the smartest nor the kindest thing the grantor can do.

Donor Advised Funds vs. Family Foundations

A Donor Advised Fund (DAF) is one of the fastest-growing options in philanthropy, and there are good reasons why. In fact, DAFs have surged ahead of private Family Foundations in terms of popularity.

Living Trust (Inter Vivos)

Living Trust (Inter Vivos) – A trust in which the person who establishes it benefits from it during his/her lifetime and, in common usage, is revocable by the donor.
There are no tax advantages to establishing a living trust--nor is there anything automatically charitable involved in such a trust.

QTIP Trust

WHAT IT IS: A Qualified Terminable Interest Property Trust (QTIP) is a type of Credit Shelter Trust.
WHO IT'S FOR: A QTIP is used by couples who have taxable estates. In function, it's a marital deduction trust that limits the surviving spouse's access to and control of the trust property.

The Estate Probate Process

Probate is the process by which an estate is administered and settled. Rules regarding the settling of an estate vary from state to state, but the process in general is as follows:

Crummey Trust

If someone has created a Crummey Trust you can be quite certain they're doing so in part to limit their estate tax liability.
A Crummey Trust is ideal for parents or grandparents who have some combination of the following factors:

Family

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