Whether you have a will or a living trust, you can designate who will inherit your assets (remember by law, your assets include your pets). Your lawyer may not ask you to specify what assets you have and who you want to designate to receive them, so be sure to list your pets and ask to have your will document a primary and secondary caregiver for your pets.
You cannot leave funds to your pets since they are property, which is why you leave funds to your designated caregivers. You can also leave funds to a charitable (nonprofit) organization as your designated caregiver. Perpetual Care combines both the designation of caregivers with donations to a charity to create a Pet Trust program for your pets. To learn more about setting up a Pet Trust with Perpetual Care, visit our website at www.perpetualcare.org.
Whether you are leaving something to a caregiver for your pets or not, sometimes charitable giving falls by the wayside when listing your beneficiaries in a will or trust. For instance, have you considered leaving a donation to your place of worship? What about the organization where you rescued your pets?
This time of year is a good time to set up or review your estate plan and to think about what you want to leave behind as your LEGACY. What is a legacy? A LEGACY is simply a gift, usually of money or property that is left in your will or trust as a bequest.
What do you want your legacy to be really means, how do you want to be remembered? If your answer is helping and serving others, then consider charitable giving through estate planning. With Perpetual Care, you Legacy Gift can serve as both a legacy gift and a designation for the care of your pets. Here are seven strategies on how to include charitable giving into your estate plan.
Leave Money to a Charity in Your Will
A will specifies what you want to be done with your assets after your death. In addition to identifying who gets what, you can also use a will to designate a charitable bequest and set up trust funds for specific charities. Naming a charity as the beneficiary in your will or living trust is one of the simplest ways to donate to charity through estate planning. Plus, it can lower the amount of your taxable estate and any estate taxes.
Contribute a Charitable Rollover from Your IRA
While you can name a charity as an IRA beneficiary, you can also choose to make use of a charitable tax break for IRAs now. People can give up to $100,000 per year to charities straight from their IRAs, and the amount can count toward any required minimum distributions (RMDs). RMDs are distributions you're required to take from retirement accounts once you reach a certain age. However, there's a perk to this option: Giving the funds directly to charity from your IRA is considered a qualified charitable distribution (QCD), allowing you to exclude the amount from your income so you don’t pay taxes on it.
Establish a Gift Through a Community Foundation
When using a community foundation, you can establish a financial legacy through your own charitable fund. The foundation typically invests the funds and you will earn interest on your investment while still granting funds to the charities of your choice. It allows you to give any amount you like to almost anyone you want for however long you want. Community foundations are typically an option for big and small donors to structure their gifts for maximum impact and tax benefits. A gift of $5,000 minimum is usually required by a community foundation.
Give Your Property
Not all charitable giving has to be cash. Sometimes people who do not have the ability to donate while living, love the thought that they can leave behind a legacy with the proceeds from their property.
Non-cash gifts, such as real estate be a great way to incorporate charitable giving into your estate plan. For example, if you have a condo, vacation home, farm or ranch, you can gift it to a charity while reserving lifetime use. That way, you can continue to use the property for the rest of your life.
Gift Appreciated Stock
If you want to make a significant gift to charity, donating appreciated stock is one of the easiest ways to do so. When you donate appreciated stock that's held for more than one year (and thus qualifies for long-term capital-gains treatment), you can avoid paying any capital gains tax on your holdings.
Create a Charitable Remainder Trust
If you're looking for a way to give back while you're still alive, setting up a charitable remainder trust is another option. This allows you to make donations tax-free and reduce your taxable income. To create a charitable remainder trust, check with your financial planner or accountant, who can help set one up using funds from your other accounts. When you set up a Charitable Remainder Trust, you can see your donations at work!
Use Life Insurance or a Charitable Gift Rider
Life insurance is a crucial part of estate planning. Your loved ones can use the proceeds from life insurance to cover funeral or other expenses. However, you can name one or more charities as a beneficiary on your policy. Charitable giving riders are another option. They pay a percentage of the policy's face value to a qualified charity. The riders don't often reduce the cash value or death benefits of the policy, but they can limit how much you can gift this way.
If you're interested in including charitable giving in your estate plan and you want your legacy to provide a loving home for orphaned pets, consider including Perpetual Care in your estate plan. Learn more about becoming a Legacy Donor and join our Legacy Society on our website and download our brochure at www.perpetualcare.org/wills-trusts.
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