Lead Trust

Lead Trust

A charitable lead trust is a sophisticated vehicle that can play an important role as part of your overall estate planning. If you hope to transfer assets to your heirs with limited taxation while also providing significant annual support to Boston College - a lead trust might be an option for you.

How It Works

You transfer cash, securities, business interest, real estate, or personal property into a trust. The trust then pays the annual income interest to BC for a set number of years – typically 10 to 25. When the trust terminates, the remaining assets are transferred back to you or your heirs, without passing through your estate.

When the remaining trust assets are passed to heirs, they are not subject to additional gift or estate tax, which means that you may be able to pass on a larger estate than would otherwise be possible.

With a minimum of $1,000,000, you can establish two types of lead trusts at BC:

• Charitable Lead Annuity Trust (CLAT): pays a fixed amount annually, at least five percent of the initial fair market value of the trust during that year
• Charitable Lead Unitrust (CLUT): pays a variable amount annually, which is equal to a fixed percentage of the fair market value of the trust during that year

Next Steps

• Contact the Office of Gift Planning to ask questions and get personalized calculations.
• Consult with your attorney about whether this complex gift vehicle is right for you.
• Input your scenarios in our gift calculator to understand your gift impact.

BC’s legal name, address and tax ID:

The Trustees of Boston College
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
Tax ID 04-2103545