What is charitable remainder trust?

As its name implies, a charitable remainder trust fund is set up by people who want to give their property to a charity. The property can come in any form: cash, real estate, stocks, bonds, or the proceeds from a life insurance policy. The charitable remainder trust has two benefits:

• The charity or organization you choose gets the property.
• Your heirs aren’t responsible for any taxes on the appreciated value of the property, if the property value has increased (and it probably has). Of course, this benefit is only important if your estate is valued at over the $650,000 exemption.