What is the charitable remainder trust and how does it work?
Posted on Mar 30, 2015 5:00am PDT
A charitable trust is a form of an irrevocable trust that devises assets
to a specified charity. You create the trust and then transfer the assets
you intend on donating. The charity must be approved by the IRS, which
usually means it has tax-exempt status under the Internal Revenue Code.
The charity serves as trustee of the trust. During your lifetime, the
charity manages and/or invests the trust assets and pays you (or another
beneficiary) a portion of the income generated by the trust assets for
a certain number of years, or for your whole life. At your death, or a
period of time you specify, the remainder of the assets becomes the property
of the charity.