In Goshen, Indiana, "charitable giving" involves giving money or property to an individual or organization, expecting nothing directly in return.

In life, charitable giving normally simply involves writing a check or handing cash over to the charitable organization of the donor's choice.

Some generous donors will sometimes give basically everything they own to charity. This is a wonderful thing to do, but it's not really practical - after all, just about everybody has bills to pay. One solution to this is to put off such a generous donation until after death. This allows the donor to meet their obligations during life, while having the satisfaction of knowing that a cause they care about will be given a large amount of help after their death.

There are many ways to give a charitable gift that does not take effect until after the donor dies. The simplest and least complicated way to do this is a simple testamentary gift in a will - wherein a particular amount of the donor's money is transferred to the charity upon the donor's death.

Charitable Trusts in Goshen, Indiana

Legal arrangements recognized as "charitable trusts" are also utilized to give large amounts of money to charity. It can be used to make the gift quickly, or it can be set to take effect after the donor's death.

In a charitable trust, the property is still technically owned by the donor, but the recipient retains possession and control over it. As the trustee, the charity is free to use the money for any purpose laid out in the trust agreement. With a charitable trust, trustees are typically only authorized to use the money to advance their organization's charitable mission.

The most frequent type of charitable trust in Goshen, Indiana is a charitable remainder trust. Under this arrangement, you give a particular amount of money or property to a charity. The charity then invests this money, giving you or a named beneficiary a portion of the income generated from these investments for a set amount of time. Once this expires, the money that was initially invested goes to the charity, free and clear.

Wanting to help a charitable cause is, of course, a good thing. Nonetheless, some people seek to take advantage of our good intentions through fraudulent charities. If you want to help ensure that any money you donate to an organization is really used for a charitable cause, and that your donation will be tax-deductible, you should check to see that the organization is really tax-exempt. You can find this information from the IRS and/or the agency accountable for taxation in

Do I Need a Goshen, Indiana Attorney?

Making a substantial charitable donation is a generous and admirable act. Nonetheless, good intentions don't always lead to good results. To guarantee that your donation has the most positive impact possible, you should discuss the matter in detail with representatives of the organization(s) you want to donate to. It might be valuable to have a Goshen, Indiana lawyer handle these negotiations on your behalf, since they will likely understand the legal and financial complexities involved.