Practice Areas

Many of our clients desire to benefit charities, either during their lifetimes or upon their death. Some clients prefer to accomplish their charitable giving by creating a charitable organization (non-profit corporation or trust) that is authorized to receive charitable gifts, and for which the client can manage the assets and distribute those assets and earnings to qualified charitable causes. Many of our clients also create charitable trusts, including charitable remainder annuity trusts, charitable remainder unitrust trusts, charitable lead annuity trusts, and charitable lead unitrust trusts to facilitate their gifting and maximize their income tax, estate tax and gift tax charitable deductions.

Our attorneys are experienced in creating and developing tax-exempt organizations and charitable trusts of all varieties, and in obtaining favorable U.S. Treasury Department rulings on their tax exempt status. We can help the donor determine which approach is best designed to accomplish the donor's charitable giving program. We have extensive experience in addressing governance issues with creative solutions that resolve disparate family philanthropic values and levels of involvement.

In addition, we can assist in the proper administration of the trust or tax exempt organization, including the filing of federal and state tax returns and informational reporting requirements, the timing and qualification of mandatory and discretionary distributions, the desirability and allowability of actions by officers and directors, and other such issues. We routinely counsel tax-exempt organizations concerning prohibited transactions to help them avoid excise taxes. Because our attorneys also have diverse and considerable personal experience in serving on boards of tax-exempt organizations, they can bring relevant, unique and creative perspectives to bear in these engagements.