A Charitable Lead Trust (CLT) is an irrevocable estate‑planning vehicle that pays a stream of income to charity first, then transfers the remaining assets to your family—often with significant gift and estate tax advantages. It’s essentially the inverse of a Charitable Remainder Trust: charity gets the “lead” interest, your heirs get the “remainder.”

A Charitable Lead Trust (CLT) is an irrevocable trust that:

Pays a fixed or variable amount to one or more charities for a set term (years or a lifetime).
Distributes whatever remains to non‑charitable beneficiaries—usually children or other family members.
Can be funded with cash, securities, real estate, or business interests.
Retain control over timing and structure of wealth transfer.

Here’s the cleanest, most practitioner‑useful way to understand the difference:

A Charitable Lead Trust (CLT) gives charity first, family later. A Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) gives family first, charity later. They solve opposite problems.
CLTs are primarily wealth‑transfer tools; CRTs are primarily income‑tax and capital‑gains tools.

Below is a structured comparison using the best available information from the search results.
Sources:

🔍 High‑Level Comparison

Feature	CLT – Charitable Lead Trust	CRT – Charitable Remainder Trust
Who gets paid first?	Charity receives annual payments during the trust term.	Non‑charitable beneficiary (you or family) receives income first.
Who gets the remainder?	Heirs (children, family) receive what’s left at the end.	Charity receives what’s left at the end.
Primary tax benefit	Gift/estate tax reduction (wealth‑transfer tool).	Income‑tax deduction + capital‑gains deferral (income‑planning tool).
Best for	Transferring appreciating assets to heirs at reduced transfer tax cost.	Selling highly appreciated assets without immediate capital gains tax.
Income to donor?	❌ No. Donor receives no income.	✅ Yes. Donor (or family) receives income for life or term.
Charitable deduction	Based on present value of lead payments to charity.	Based on present value of remainder going to charity.
Risk profile	If investments underperform, heirs get less.	If investments underperform, charity gets less.
Common variants	CLAT (annuity), CLUT (unitrust).	CRAT (annuity), CRUT (unitrust).