Planned Giving/Estate Gifts

Planned Giving is a great way to support St. Anthony’s.  There are many ways to establish planned or estate gifts.  They include making St. Anthony’s as a beneficiary of your retirement account, adding St. Anthony’s as a beneficiary in your last will and testament, establishing charitable gift annuities and charitable trusts, and gifting assets such as real estate and personal property such as art or jewelry.

Contact Andrew White our Business Manager at 631-744-2609 to further discuss your estate planning goals.  

Remembering St. Anthony’s in Your Will

Wills and Bequests

A simple and easy way to ensure St. Anthony’s can continue our work in the future is a gift in your will or living trust, known as a charitable bequest. By including a bequest to St. Anthony’s in your will or living trust, you will make a profound difference in our parish for years to come.

This flexible gift option can be revised at any time, and can be made as a specific amount or a percentage of your estate—allowing you to also take care of your family. In addition, your gift entitles your estate to an unlimited federal estate tax charitable deduction.

Bequests are gifts that are made as part of a will or trust. A bequest can be to a person, or it can be a charitable bequest to a nonprofit organization, trust or foundation. Anyone can make a bequest—in any amount—to an individual or charity. Bequests can be simple—“I give $1,000 to my grandson”—or complex, with conditions about how the gifts can be used.

How bequests work

There are different ways that bequests operate:

1. To make a bequest, you need to leave instructions, typically in a will. Other documents, such as beneficiary designations and revocable living trusts, may also be part of how your estate plan is managed after your death. You can detail different types of bequests in your will and update it throughout your life as your family, priorities and wishes evolve.
2. For property to be passed on after you pass away and bequests made, your will must first be “probated” or legally validated. Many states have improved the probate process, making it less expensive and faster.

If you have no will to specify your instructions, state law dictates where your property passes. Generally, this would be first to a surviving spouse, then to your children and other family in accordance with state law. If you don’t leave a will and don't have any living relatives, your estate, depending on where you live, could go to the state.

Types of bequests

There are four types of bequests, and many wills contain more than one type:

• General bequests—gifts of property taken from an estate’s general assets.
• Demonstrative bequests—gifts that comes from a explicit source (such as a particular bank account).
• Specific bequests—gifts of property, like a painting, jewelry, car or cash (e.g., $10,000 to my great nephew's cousin).
• Residuary gifts—gifts made after all of the debts and expenses are paid, and other bequests are made. These are typically a percentage of the remainder; in some cases a share (e.g., three shares of 32 total shares).

Charitable bequests can fall into any of these four categories. One common approach is to leave specific or demonstrative bequests to family members or other individuals and then leave a residuary charitable bequest to a charitable organization. These bequests can be directed to private foundations and charities that sponsor a donor-advised fund program, allowing the bequest to become an ongoing means of charitable support. That way, the individuals get exactly the amount or items you want to leave them, and the charity gets funds that remain.

Separate from a will, you can designate residuary gifts from an insurance policy or annuity, where the policy holder receives benefits during their lifetime and then gives the remainder of the policy benefits to family, friends and/or charitable recipients.

Benefits of charitable bequests

Flexibility: Charitable bequests are flexible and easy to update. You can write one into a will with a short paragraph, and if circumstances change you can revoke it just as easily in a subsequent will or codicil. Estate planning professionals often counsel their clients to have an annual or bi-annual estate plan “check-up” to ensure that the most recent version of the client’s will reflects their wishes.

Tax benefits: Under current federal law, an estate of more than $11.7 million will owe federal tax. In general, there is an unlimited deduction of charitable bequests against the value of an estate, making it a powerful tool for reducing estate tax. It is possible for an estate to deduct charitable bequests of not only cash, but also property such as real estate, stock, IRAs, autos and other assets. Not all assets are treated equally if inherited by heirs—for example, retirement assets are typically less advantageous to leave to heirs than appreciated securities—so there are also benefits to carefully selecting which assets to use as a part of a charitable bequest to maximize the benefits to all involved.

Recognition: A bequest gift can be a way to create a lasting legacy at St Anthony’s. We are happy to discuss ways of recognizing and honoring gifts—depending on what is funded.