Leaving a Legacy: Estate Planning and Charitable Giving
Whether providing income for your spouse, funding college for your children or grandchildren, or leaving money to your favorite charity, proper estate planning can help protect your assets accumulated over your lifetime and preserve them for the uses you have intended.
One of the most rewarding aspects of significant wealth is the opportunity to share it with family, a favorite institution or a charitable organization. We are ready to provide you with the guidance and resources you need to create and implement your own lasting legacy.
The estates of ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families can be inherently complex, so having a comprehensive estate plan is crucial for a seamless transfer of wealth, to avoid lengthy legal battles and mitigate taxes. We can employ a number of effective strategies specific to the preservation of wealth.
As you make careful plans for how your wealth will pass to your heirs, it is important for everyone involved to clearly understand your wishes, as well as the process by which they will be carried out. We can help you make sure everyone knows where to turn.
Preserving your estate
A carefully crafted estate plan allows you to control your assets while passing your wealth on to your beneficiaries as efficiently as possible, and in a manner that reflects your personal values and objectives. To help simplify this process, we provide access to a range of estate planning services and strategies.
Trust services
We have extensive experience with individual trusts as well as living, marital, special needs, charitable, life insurance and other specialty trusts. We can partner with one of many trust companies who may serve as trustee, co-trustee, custodian, personal representative or agent to the trustee in all 50 states. In partnership, we can develop personalized strategies designed to fit your specific needs.
Charitable giving strategies
When strategically executed, charitable giving not only helps the organizations you choose, but it can also generate personal tax benefits and advance your overall wealth management plan. We can help you accomplish these goals with strategies that include private family foundations, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, charitable gift annuities, pooled income funds and our most popular giving vehicle, donor advised funds. We work primarily with Fidelity Charitable, which helps donors maximize their generosity through its donor-advised fund. Established in 1991, it is the nation’s top grant maker, distributing $18.3 billion to charities in 2025*. Due to its investment programs, Fidelity Charitable has generated $41 billion, above and beyond donor contributions, for charitable purposes.
Donors are urged to consult their attorneys, accountants or tax advisors with respect to questions relating to the deductibility of various types of contributions to a donor advised fund for federal and state tax purposes.
* Data from the 2025 Fidelity Charitable Giving Report
Funding your child’s or grandchild’s education
Covering the costs of a child’s or grandchild’s higher education can be a personally rewarding use of your wealth. To help make sure your money does what you need it to, we can offer options, such as custodian accounts for minors, section 529 college savings plans, sophisticated trust strategies and more.
Coordination with tax professionals, estate attorneys and other professionals
We collaborate with outside advisors – whether your existing professionals or ones we can recommend – to deliver a cohesive approach that brings all elements of your financial life together, organized down to the last detail.