Professional Advisors

Legal Services of North Florida has the fortunate opportunity to be working with an excellent team of expert planners and advisors to help our friends and donors make the best possible gift giving decision.  The list of names below provides a quick reference of local professionals you may contact to further your giving goals. We encourage you to contact your own attorney or financial planner and include them in our discussions with you regarding your planned gift. 

Also, please feel free to take this opportunity to familiarize yourself with our professional advisor's guides to planned gift giving below (click here).  This is a virtual mini library of do's and don'ts when it comes to planned giving.

If you are a planned giving professional and your name is not listed below, we invite you to contact our office so we can make you part of our gift making team (click here).

Professional Advisor Guides

A Guide to Early Termination of a Charitable Remainder Trust
Many clients feel a great sense of satisfaction upon the creation of a charitable remainder trust (CRT). After the newness wears off, however, some CRT income and remainder beneficiaries wish to terminate their trusts.
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A Professional's Guide to Charitable Organizations
"A Professional's Guide to Charitable Organizations" is a primer discussing which organizations are tax-exempt under IRC 501(c) and which are qualified as charitable organizations under IRC 170(b)(1)(A). In addition, this article is especially timely as it addresses donor advised funds and supporting organizations, both of which are hit hard by the Pension Protection Act of 2006. More...

Testamentary Gifts to Help Children and Grandchildren
Several types of charitable techniques are available to donors whose planning goals are twofold: one, to provide benefits to the donor's favorite charitable organizations, and two, to financially assist the donor's children and grandchildren. More...

Charitable Planning Mistakes to Avoid
This article highlights specific areas of the charitable planning process where mistakes seem to recur based on the authors' combined experiences. As you read through the article, mistakes from the seasoned professional to the charitable planning novice are highlighted. By sharing these real-life situations, the authors hope to disperse knowledge, not from the painful school of hard knocks, but from the less painful old cliche, "learn from the mistakes of others."
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How Investment Decisions Affect Life Income Gifts
Anyone involved in the creation or planning of life income gifts knows that the last three years have been the most challenging since the Tax Reform Act of 1969 codified the rules regarding these gifts. The coupling of a significant equity market pullback and the lowest fixed interest rates in 45 years has created challenges for the maintenance of donor relations and establishment of new gift plans, and has created discomfort for fiduciaries managing ongoing gifts. More...

Misconceptions About Living Wills, Health Care Proxies and End-of-Life Decisions
The tragedy of Terri Schiavo and the publicized legal battle that emerged between her family members of whether to withdraw life-sustaining measures, caused millions of clients to rush into preparing end-of-life documents.
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The Charitable Lead Trust: A Phenomenal Estate Planning Tool
Of all the charitable planning tools, the charitable lead trust (CLT) is one of the more beneficial types of gifts. But, because of its complexity, it is also one of the least utilized planned gifts. More...

Opportunities and Cautions for Gifts of Real Property
Notwithstanding a heightened level of ownership of common stocks, bonds and mutual funds by Americans, a substantial percentage of personal wealth that is potentially available for charitable giving is still in the form of real property. More...

Maximize Memorials for a Lasting Influence
Individuals who want to make memorial gifts in honor of a loved one need our compassionate guidance as advisors during a difficult time. Using the proper techniques, as professional advisors we can direct donors toward a much more influential and meaningful gift than they may originally have in mind. Memorial gifts can bring a sense of togetherness, closure and satisfaction to your clients. More...

Choosing the Right Charitable Remainder Trust
Improve income for yourself and others, make an income tax charitable deduction and avoid capital gains taxes with an irrevocable charitable remainder trust. More...

Charitable Remainder Trusts: Robust Yet Underused Scenarios
Charitable gifts, like financial plans, should be tailored to individual circumstances and can often improve the client’s position. This article features novel client situations in which a charitable remainder trust (CRT) is used to save the day. As is true with any creative planning idea, these techniques work in these particular circumstances, but they hopefully will lead you to recommend a charitable gift, particularly a CRT, in situations where it may not be immediately obvious. More...

Lessons From the Experts
Charitable planning can be one of the most satisfying areas in which an advisor can practice. Charitable planning is a specialty, however, with technical rules and an abundance of potential pitfalls. The purpose of this article is to alert you to some of the pitfalls you may encounter, enabling you to do a better job for your clients. More...

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A Guide to Early Termination of a Charitable Remainder Trust
by Ted Batson Jr. and Greg Baker

Many clients feel a great sense of satisfaction upon the creation of a charitable remainder trust (CRT). After the newness wears off, however, some CRT income and remainder beneficiaries wish to terminate their trusts.

Perhaps the CRT's value has dropped to the point that the continued payment of income distributions to the income beneficiary is in danger of exhausting the CRT so that the charitable organization will receive nothing (e.g., from a charitable remainder annuity trust).

The organization may have initiated a new program that the income beneficiary would like to fund now rather than after his or her death. Or, the income beneficiary may be experiencing an unexpected cash flow crunch and need access to his or her portion of the CRT's value.

When is it generally advisable to keep the CRT intact and when might termination be an option? What will the Internal Revenue Service's perspective be if an early termination occurs? Should professional advisors counsel donors and the charitable organization they have a relationship with to stay the course?

In every case, it is important to consider the as-yet unsettled nature of the law regarding early terminations and weigh the advantages and costs of requesting a private letter ruling specific to a client's facts and circumstances.

Administration of a CRT is often more art than science. At any moment in time there may be unresolved issues with the investment portfolio, distributions to the income beneficiaries may be in arrears or beneficiaries may have been overpaid, or tax filings may not be current. Before entering into a termination transaction, the administration of the CRT should be cleaned up and any unresolved issues resolved.

Where an actuarial split is contemplated, the divisibility of the underlying trust assets must be considered. Where the trust holds unmarketable assets that are not easily divisible, the result of the termination may place the income and remainder beneficiaries in a worse position.

CRT terminations generally take one of two forms: (1) the assignment of the income interest to the charitable remainder beneficiaries (an "assignment termination"); or (2) division of the trust assets between the income and remainder beneficiaries based upon the actuarial present value of their respective interests (an "actuarial split").

Not every CRT is a candidate for an early termination. The trust's governing instrument must be examined to verify that the income beneficiary is not expressly prohibited from assigning his or her income interest and that the settlor did not expressly prohibit an early termination.

What is the effect of an early termination on the CRT's qualified status under IRC ß664?
Over the years, the IRS has issued more than 15 private letter rulings related to CRT terminations. In one of the earliest rulings regarding an assignment termination (PLR 7949035), the Service concluded (without analysis) that the assignment of the entire income interest to the remainder beneficiary and subsequent termination of the trust would not cause the trust to retroactively fail to qualify as a CRT within the meaning of IRC ß664. The determining factor was that the assignment of the income interest was permitted under state law.

In later rulings regarding actuarial splits, the Service continued to rely on a finding that the contemplated termination was a valid transaction under state law (see PLRs 200208039, 200304025 and 200324035).

Necessity of a Court Proceeding. In all states, a court of competent jurisdiction can be called upon to rule on an early termination proceeding. In some states, however, nonjudicial methods for dealing with trust matters are available. Where these methods are available, it is often quicker and more cost-effective to terminate a trust.

Consent of All Beneficiaries. In most states, an essential element to a state law termination proceeding is the consent of all beneficiaries—regardless of whether they vested. For example, it may be required that the children of the donor, who possess a survivorship income interest that is subject to a testamentary power of revocation held by the donor, consent to the termination.

If the charitable remainder beneficiaries were irrevocably named in the governing document, ascertaining those charitable organizations from which the trustee must obtain consent is relatively straightforward.

If the original charitable remainder beneficiaries were named revocably, however, questions may arise as to whether any or all of the charitable organizations were ever revoked and others substituted. Some states require that a prescribed method be followed when changing trust beneficiaries. Therefore, the trustee should verify that proper procedures were followed in the event that a change in charitable remainder beneficiaries was performed.

If the donor is still living, these issues can be easily resolved by requesting that the donor issue a notice revoking all previously named charitable organizations and fixing irrevocably those charitable organizations that are to be parties to the termination proceeding. Otherwise, a careful review of the trust file must be made to ascertain that the correct charitable organizations are identified and notified, and their consent obtained.

Role of the State Attorney General. In most states, the Attorney General serves as the protector for charitable organizations. In this role, the Attorney General may often be a required party to a transaction involving the early termination of a charitable trust (for example, if the CRT does not specify a charitable remainder beneficiary). In other states, the Attorney General's participation may be optional. In either instance, the IRS has shown a preference for having the Attorney General as a consenting signatory to the termination (see PLRs 200127023 and 200208039).

Will the assignment termination result in the charitable organization possessing current access to the trust principal?
Where an assignment termination in favor of an organization is contemplated, often a prime motivator is providing the charitable organization with current access to trust principal. As an irrevocable split-interest trust with a defined term, however, there is an expectation that the trust will continue in existence to the end of the trust term.

At least two methods exist to ensure that the charitable organization will have current access to the trust principal. In PLR 7949035, this dilemma was resolved by petitioning a local court for a declaratory judgment terminating the trust and directing that the trust funds be distributed to the charitable benef