Thursday, May 27, 2010 What is Estate Planning? - Chartiable Planning
Almost all of our Kansas City area clients ask us, what is Estate Planning?
In our last couple installments we have been discussing the areas of concern for families and business owners regarding estate planning, which are as follows:
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Lifetime control over financial and health care decisions
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Planning for the cost-effective and expedient transfer of wealth at death
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Family maintenance and protective planning
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Business succession planning
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Charitable planning
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Gift and estate tax planning
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Legacy planning
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Elder law issues
Last week Jason reviewed area 4 – Business Succession Planning, today I will cover area 5 - Charitable Planning.
Charitable Planning
Charitable estate planning can take many forms, but usually arises out of your client’s sense of commitment to a particular cause or philanthropic pursuit. Obtaining the best tax results is generally the most important and difficult planning objective in charitable transactions. Careful planning is absolutely necessary because the rules are complex and replete with traps for the unwary.
The Internal Revenue Code provides income, estate and tax deductions for charitable gifts. The deductions exist because Congress believes that the work charities do is worthwhile and that people should support them. In theory, charities relieve the government of the need to perform some useful activities and, therefore, a tax deduction for donations is appropriate. The charitable deduction is politically popular and will clearly remain part of the tax structure.
For more information or if you have questions, please contact us. Please keep the questions and comments coming.
Garrett L. Griffin
BridgeBuilder- Plans for Life |