Will Your Estate Plan Accomplish Your Charitable Giving Goals?

Our Estate Plan Review service (no charge) will evaluate your plan and your charitable goals in light of current tax laws. The general/formula wording being used in many estate plans was designed to accomplish a significant estate tax reduction through charitable giving. Now that many more estates may become exempt, existing plan wording could reduce charitable giving because tax-offsetting donations are less needed. In other cases, because the estate tax reduction laws are being re-written in 2010, certain estates need to develop new wording to manage remaining exposure to estate taxes.

Our review process is supported by a skilled team of gift-planning attorneys. Since we do not practice law or offer formal tax counsel, we will follow our review and recommendations with careful communication to you and the legal and financial advisors whom you have retained to implement your charitable and estate plans.

If you do not have a planning team of professional advisors, we can recommend several in your area.

Building Blocks for Organizing Your Estate Plan

As you establish or update your estate plan, consider these building blocks:

• People–The family, friends, and charities/ministries you have cared for during your life
• Property–The assets and future income streams over which you are a steward
• Plans–Plans for the careful disposition of your assets, during and after your life
• Planners–The team of professional advisors, including our Gift and Estate Design services team, who will help you implement your plans

Building Blocks for Encouraging the Personal Responsibility and Incentive of Your Beneficiaries

As you seek to allocate your estate assets in ways that are helpful to your beneficiaries, consider one or more of these planning steps:

• Early Principal–Provide an initial, but smaller, amount of principal that communicates your care for your beneficiaries. Consider using your Annual Gift Tax Exclusions during your lifetime.
• Income Stream–Provide a helpful amount of income for a term of years or for the lifetimes of your beneficiaries. Consider charitable tools such as Current and Deferred Gift Annuities, Charitable Remainder Trusts and a combination of Stretch IRAs and Stretch Unitrusts.
• Later Principal–Provide additional principal for your beneficiaries during their years of financial maturity. Consider wealth transfer tools such as Charitable Lead Trusts.
• Stewardship Encouragement–Provide opportunities for your beneficiaries to develop as stewards through participation as advisors for a Donor Advised Fund, Supporting Organization or Private Foundation.

For further information and assistance, please contact Steve de Graaf in our Gift and Estate Design Services office.

Phone: 1-619-819-1758 (Steve de Graaf) or Email:
or complete our Confidential Reply Form

Write us: San Diego Rescue Mission, P.O. Box 80427, San Diego, CA 92138-0427