When an irrevocable trust no longer fits your life

Do you feel stuck in your old CRT? Sterling has a solution.

Charitable remainder trusts can be powerful planning tools, but over time they can drift out of alignment with your goals. Sterling helps income beneficiaries evaluate whether selling, exchanging, or contributing their income interest may create a better fit for today’s reality.

Overview

CRTs are valuable tools, but they are also highly inflexible.

Charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) offer the ability to defer capital gains, generate an up-front tax deduction, and create an income stream for life or for a set term. But by law, they are irrevocable, which means the key terms cannot be changed once the trust is in place.

Because life circumstances, tax environments, and financial priorities change over time, many CRTs eventually stop fitting the people they were originally designed to serve.

Since 2003, Sterling has reviewed thousands of CRTs and has successfully arranged over a thousand sale and tax-free exchange transactions.

“Most clients with CRTs don’t understand their full range of secondary planning options; they naturally assume that because their CRT is irrevocable, they’re stuck with it for life (or until the end of the trust term).”
NAEPC Journal of Estate and Tax Planning, 2016
Options

Three common paths when a CRT is no longer a good fit.

Sell the Income Interest

An income interest in a CRT is a capital asset that can be bought, sold, or exchanged. A sale can convert future CRT income into a cash payment today.

Tax-Free Exchange to a New CRT

For beneficiaries who want to reduce taxable income, reshape the income stream, or create benefits for children or other family members, a tax-free exchange to a new CRT with different terms can be an effective alternative.

Contribute the Interest to Charity

In some cases, the best fit may be contributing the income interest to charity, when the beneficiary’s goals have shifted and ongoing CRT income is no longer needed.

Why Clients Change Course

Problems Clients Face: Outdated CRTs

Common Life Changes

  • Need or desire for a lump sum of cash
  • Desire to transfer additional assets to children
  • Desire to simplify financial affairs
  • Birth of a grandchild, remarriage, or divorce
  • Change in health status or death of a spouse

Planning & Performance Issues

  • No longer wanting the CRT’s taxable income
  • Administrative costs and burdens
  • Concern over market volatility
  • Dissatisfaction with the CRT’s performance
  • Need to revisit old planning assumptions
Complimentary Review

Sterling’s complimentary review built from just four data points.

What the Complimentary Review Covers

At no cost or obligation to you, and using just four data points, Sterling can review a CRT and provide an analysis showing what the income beneficiary(ies) would receive from selling the income interest to a third party.

  • Type of trust
  • Payout rate
  • Current value of trust
  • Age or remaining term information

What to Expect

The process begins with the Complimentary Review. Once Sterling has the necessary information, the review is typically sent within two business days.

A CRT income interest sale or tax-free exchange can typically be completed in two to four weeks after the decision to proceed.

Case Studies

Representative CRT case studies.

CRT Income Interest Sale

  • Regain Control of Assets for Family
  • Client’s Situation Changed Since Creating CRT
  • Simplification of Financial Affairs
  • Underperforming NIMCRUT
  • Change in Health Status
  • Mortality Risk
  • Divorcing Couple with a CRT

CRT Tax-Free Exchange

  • Reduce Taxable Income and Create Future Income Stream for Children
  • Reduce Taxable Income and Create Immediate Income Stream for Children
  • Spouse Isn’t an Income Beneficiary
  • Underperforming NIMCRUT

Talk Directly With the CRT Team.

Start with a complimentary review. Using just four data points, Sterling can review a CRT and typically send the review within two business days.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.” — Robert Louis Stevenson