Asset Protection encompasses a variety of areas of law and can be helpful for many different kinds of clients. It can include estate tax planning (reducing the burden of estate taxes upon your death), long term care planning (planning for long term care needs in advance through Medicaid planning or through the purchase of long term care insurance policies), establishment of pre and post-marital agreements (protecting your assets in the event of the dissolution of your marriage, or ensuring that assets pass in the manner that you choose at your death), or protecting your assets from potential litigation or other unforeseen events.

Outright/Present Gifts

The benefits are that the charity gets immediate use of your donation, while you will receive a valuable current income tax deduction.

Testamentary Gifts

A bequest made as part of a Will or Trust will benefit the charity at your death, and will qualify for an estate tax deduction at your death (but involve no income tax benefit)

Deferred Gifts

With deferred gifts, the charity might get nothing until your death, but you, as the donor, might benefit both from a current income tax deduction and also from an estate tax deduction at your death.

Charitable Trusts

Establishing a charitable trust may involve any one of many specific kinds of trusts that eventually result in a gift to a charity. Certain recognized forms of charitable trusts allow the donor or the donor's family to reap substantial income or estate tax benefits. There are many types of Charitable Trust arrangements, but most are characterized by their irrevocability. In a charitable remainder trust, a donor irrevocably transfers selected assets to a trust, though the donor may actually be the trustee. The trust may retain or might more frequently sell those assets (without the same capital gains tax burden the donor might have faced), and in accordance with the trust�s formula, make periodic distributions of income or principal to the donor or members of the donor's family for the lifetime of the beneficiaries or for a specified term, after which, whatever remains in the trust will be given to charity. The donor is entitled to a current income tax charitable deduction, based on a calculation of the present value of the remainder interest payable to charity.