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Charitable Remainder Trust PitfallsCharitable Remainder Trust Pitfalls

Help your clients make significant gifts, provide life income for themselves and save taxes

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Daniel P. Fitzgerald, Heather J. Rhoadesand 1 more

September 29, 2015

22 Min Read
Charitable Remainder Trust Pitfalls

Advice to Indiana Jones from the Knight of the Holy Grail: “But choose wisely for while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you.”1

 

Another knight, the Knight of the Tax Table, tells us that doing a charitable remainder trust (CRT) the right way enables your clients to make significant charitable gifts, provide life income for themselves (and others) and save taxes. Doing it the wrong way will take away income, gift and estate tax charitable deductions. And, once you encounter the ire of the Internal Revenue Service, your clients can also lose marital deductions and have to pay otherwise avoidable capital gains taxes.

Here are some common and not-so-common pitfalls. If you’ve already fallen in, see “Patchi...

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About the Authors

Daniel P. Fitzgerald

Principal, Cummings & Lockwood LLC

Daniel P. Fitzgerald is a principal in the Greenwich, Conn. office, all at Cummings & Lockwood LLC.

 

Heather J. Rhoades

 

Heather J. Rhoades practices in the areas of estate planning, estate settlement, trust administration and charitable planning.  She is resident in the West Hartford office where she is a Principal in the Private Clients Group.  She is a member of the firm’s charitable planning group.

Heather received her B.A. from the University of Connecticut and her J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law.  She now serves as a mentor for UCONN law students in their first year.

Heather is admitted to practice in Connecticut and is a member of the American, Connecticut and Hartford County Bar Associations.  She is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Estates and Probate Section of the Connecticut Bar Association and is co-chair of the continuing legal education subcommittee of this Section.  Heather is a member of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving Professional Advisory Committee and the UCONN Foundation Planned Giving Professional Advisory Council.  In addition, Heather is a Director of the Estate and Business Planning Council of Hartford and chair of the seminar committee of the Council.

Heather is a frequent speaker on estate and tax planning issues and has authored a number of articles focusing on various estate planning subjects.

Conrad Teitell

President, Taxwise Giving

Conrad Teitell, A.B., LL.B., LL.M., 98.6. Chairman, National Charitable Planning Group, Cummings & Lockwood, Stamford Conn. For information about Conrad Teitell's publications and lectures visit taxwisegiving.com.