Gift & Estate Planning

Including a charitable bequest in a will or trust is one of the simplest ways to make an estate gift. We can help facilitate a bequest for your clients by providing sample bequest language, as well as a customized fund agreement that allows donors to change the charitable intent of their bequest without having to change their will. Through our relationship with the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, we also offer a free Guide to Planning Your Will and Trust to share with your clients.

We offer several endowment fund options that provide simpler alternatives to a private foundation. By transferring a private foundation to the Lawton Community Foundation endowment at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, your clients can remain involved in grant-making decisions and ensure that their charitable intentions are continued in perpetuity. In addition, we handle all administrative and legal requirements and offer greater tax advantages and fewer restrictions than private foundations.

For your clients of retirement age, who are charitable minded and would also like to create a stable income source, a charitable gift annuity (CGA) might be the perfect strategy. We can help your clients establish a CGA through a gift of cash or other assets, guaranteeing a set income for life. At the end of the annuity, the remaining assets will go to the charitable fund of their choice. For a calculation of how a CGA might benefit your clients, visit the Oklahoma City Community Foundation’s online deduction calculator and the schedule of gift annuity rates.

A charitable remainder trust (CRT) might be an appealing giving option for your clients who would like to reduce the size of their estate now, while designating a charitable gift in the future. We can help facilitate a CRT that allows your clients to place assets in a trust that pays annual income for life or a term of years and upon the trust’s termination, the remaining assets will go to the charitable fund of their choice. Through a CRT, your clients can avoid capital gains tax on the donated assets, receive an income tax deduction for the fair market value of the remainder interest of the trust and reduce their estate taxes.

Through a charitable lead trust (CLT), your clients can transfer assets to the Lawton Community Foundation, which will then pay a percentage of the assets’ value to the charitable fund of their choice. At the end of the trust term, the remaining assets are paid back to the donor (grantor trust) or to designated heirs (non-grantor or family trust). A CLT offers several advantages including greatly discounted gift or estate taxes and any growth in the assets will be free of these taxes for the heirs. In certain cases, a charitable lead trust may also provide an income tax deduction at the time the trust is created.

Through the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, we are able to offer a free, online planned giving resource, LegacyGiving, that is designed to assist you and your clients with estate plans. It offers an online wills planner, a planned gifts calculator, updates on the latest tax and legislative news and a variety of information about estate gifts including bequests, trusts and charitable gift annuities.

The calculator creates a presentation that shows the income and tax benefits of several planned giving vehicles such as gift annuities, annuity trusts and more. Click here to begin using it.

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