Charitable Lead Trusts
A charitable lead trust (view illustration (pdf)) can be planned to provide children, grandchildren or any heirs a valuable inheritance at an appropriate stage of their lives. And while heirs are building and supporting their own livelihoods, a lead trust can help build and support the educational needs of countless University of Hartford students.

Essentially, a charitable lead trust is the opposite of a charitable remainder trust. The "lead" income generated by the trust, instead of being paid to an individual donor or beneficiary for a specified number of years, is paid annually to the University of Hartford or other charitable entity. As with charitable remainder trusts, there are two types of payment arrangements for both non-grantor and grantor charitable lead trusts- "annuity" (fixed payment amounts) and "unitrust" (based on a percentage of annual valuation of principal).

At the termination of the trust, the principal typically is transferred to someone other than the grantor, usually to the grantor's heirs (hence the term, "non-grantor lead trust"). In a non-grantor lead trust, the donor, or grantor, does not receive a charitable income tax deduction but instead receives gift and estate tax benefits. The grantor pays gift or estate tax on the present value of the remainder interest passing to heirs or other individual beneficiaries. Assets can thereby be transferred at a reduced federal estate tax or gift tax rate.

With proper consideration of generation-skipping tax consequences, grantors may pass a considerable amount of property to their grandchildren or other heirs while substantially reducing taxes and benefiting the University of Hartford.

If you or your advisers have any questions about your charitable plans or intentions for the University of Hartford, please contact our director of Planned Giving.

For more information on Planned Giving, contact Peter Congleton at 860.768.2415 or congleton@hartford.edu


Please note that the University of Hartford does not provide tax or legal advice. Gift calculations may be provided for illustrative purposes only, and the actual values may vary based on the timing and nature of your gift. Advice from legal and tax counsel should be sought when considering a charitable gift of any kind.