Planning your legacy is no small task. When you begin estate planning with your legacy in mind, you are contemplating not only how to provide for your spouse and children, but how you can ensure the causes and organizations you care most about can continue long after you are gone.
Gifts to those outside your family allow institutions to continue. Today, many groups such as churches, health care support organizations, and awareness causes rely on donations like yours to operate. With an increase in charitable bequests in the past hundred years, most will also have a plan to make sure you are remembered for your involvement with them.
Legacy planning is an important part of any estate plan. At the very least, it should be considered in the context of a final beneficiary solution. In other words, if you were to pass away with no remaining family members, who would inherit from you? Your alma mater? Your church? Your local Alzheimer’s support group? Bear in mind without this planning, the state of California is your ultimate beneficiary.
Charitable giving is a key part of the conversation you need to have with your attorney with regard to your estate plan. In this discussion, you can work together to create a legacy that provides for the things you care most about. Whether it is through a specific amount of money you want to leave in your will or as a remainder beneficiary, you can decide how your remaining assets will be distributed. You may decide to set up a charitable trust that will disburse money throughout your lifetime, even if you were to become incapacitated, and can provide significant income tax savings each year.
Your attorney will also be able to help you determine how to give to create a legacy. While it may seem simple at first, you pick a charity and leave money to it, the process is often a bit more complicated. Who to leave the money to, how to structure it and outlining the use of the money are all key considerations that need to be determined now before you actually finalize your estate plan. Your attorney will not only be able to create your documents in a way that puts your wishes into action but can also direct you on how to get the information you need to do it right.
Don’t wait to talk to your estate planning attorney. Charitable giving is a wonderful way to leave a legacy and be able to give to others; start planning today.
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