Everything you always wanted to know about charitable lead trusts but were afraid to ask.

By Kathleen Stephenson and Lisa B. Petkun

We have previously looked at charitable remainder trusts and their role in philanthropic giving. Now let’s look at the other side of the coin: charitable lead trusts. While a charitable remainder trust combines a present non-charitable interest with a remainder interest that passes to charity, a charitable lead trust is a charitable interest followed by a non-charitable remainder.