Do You Need a Charitable Remainder Trust Annuity?

Trusts are a fairly known topic among Americans because many of them have one. Trusts not only make it easy to save in an efficient manner but they allow for easy financial or asset management. Think about it: You don't actually have to manage anything because a trustee (the individual or organization in charge of your trust) will be doing all of the 'dirty' work). The thing is, there are virtually dozens of different types of trusts out there and there are thousands of branches that include churches, non-profits, schools and other organizations that each has their very own charity trust. There are living trusts, remainder trusts, family trusts, community trusts...the list goes on and on! Trusts not only make financial management easier, they have the capabilities of reducing incredibly high property taxes (if you have some sort of estate trust). One of the most frequently used trusts are charitable remainder trusts.

Charitable remainder trusts definitely encourage charitable giving and asset management. There are two basic types of charitable remainder trust annuities- the annuity trust and the uni-trust. Here's the low down:

Annuity trusts, which are the more popular of the two, provide fixed annual payments (in a certain amount as dictated by the trustor and a percentage based off the given amount) to both the trustor and the charity in question. This payment is usually only done on a fixed basis, which means it will never change over the course of the trust. These trusts can be opened for either a specific amount of years (10, 15, 20 years) or they can be set up as a lifetime trust so that the remainder of the balance goes to the charity after the trustor passes away. On the other hand is the uni-trust. Uni-trusts offer variable annual payments, which is obviously different from the fixed payments of the annuity trust. This type of trust becomes a little more complex because the variable is based off of a percentage of the given amount in relation to the annual value. A donor who wants more flexibility within their plan should look into this type of trust while a donor who wants a simplified trust should choose the annuity form.

What can be contributed to a charitable remainder trust annuity? Annuity trusts allow for a variety of different assets to contribute to the trust. Things such as cash, stocks and bonds, real estate and other properties can be added to the trust, as advised by the trustor. The trustor really gets a lot of options as far as what they want and for how long they want it. If they choose they can have several different assets in one type of trust and a few others in another one.

Charitable remainder trust annuities allow individuals to contribute to their favorite charities while at the same time reaping financial management.

The content presented on www.charity-trust-info.com is for informational purposes and is not intended as a substitute for legal or tax advice. Consult your legal or tax advisor for specific information.

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Joe Roberts owns and operates http://www.charity-trust-info.com Charity Trust