October 30, 2018

Many people in the past made decisions about their charitable giving, not just because they were motivated by philanthropy but also because they received tax benefits for making charitable donations. Charity can help you to meet your personal goals regardless of tax benefits and now might be a good time to update your estate planning lawyer if you have questions. 

In most cases, the non-tax benefits of charitable giving are more important when it comes to planning and motivating donations. Most donors will receive very little, if any, tax benefits from donations after the implementation of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

But non-tax motives can still remain top of mind for you. Remember that charitable giving can take numerous different forms and there are great ways to add charity to a number of different types of estate and financial plans. Your existing charitable giving approach might need to be reevaluated to provide for important personal benefits. Charitable giving can include naming charity for bequests or gifts that could be deferred or might not occur. If events happen such that your primary goals are no longer possible, it’s good to have this flexibility built into your financial plan. For those charitably inclined couples who do not have children, a good spin on the typical scheme focused on tax benefits can enable charitable benefits and taking care of each other. On the death of the second spouse, all of the wealth could be transferred to a charity with which both were actively involved. An estate planning attorney is the first person you should talk to about whether or not the plans you currently have will indeed work for the goals that you have on tap and how things will look in the future.