Giving season

Around the holidays every year, we see an uptick in donations, volunteerism, and charitable giving. The season reminds us to look inward and find ways to help our communities.  Part of my estate planning practice is to help my clients find ways to include charities into their legacy through a variety of options.  Individuals can make gifts during their lives, sell property to charities at a bargain, or name charities as the beneficiary of life insurance or retirement accounts.  If you are over 70 1/2, you can distribute IRA minimum required distributions directly to a charity without paying income tax.  If you have real estate holdings that don't produce income or assets that have a high capital gain, there are a variety of other options where you give property to charity,  but receive an annuity back for life or some other period of time or you give the property to charity for a period of time and then it reverts back to you or your heirs.   Most all of these options have some tax advantage, but most importantly ultimately benefit causes that my clients are passionate about.  If you would like more information about charitable giving or would like assistance in putting a plan into action, call me at (509) 557-7797.

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