By making plans now, you can make a difference in the future of your family, your friends, and your community. The legacy of your ideals and wishes can continue through a carefully constructed estate plan. The Blatchford Society has been established by the Board of Trustees to recognize and honor those people who have provided for the Newberry Library through their estate plans.
If you wish to learn how your estate can help ensure the future for the Newberry Library, contact Frances Lai, Director of Gift Planning, at (312) 255-3545.
Your estate is simply all the assets you have accumulated during your lifetime. This may include real estate, stocks, bonds, business investments, retirement plans, personal property, and anything else you own. Estate planning is making the arrangements to ensure that your estate is distributed in the manner that you wish after you are gone. Your estate goals can be achieved through a will or a trust. Through estate planning, you can assure the future of your family and assist the Newberry Library to continue its work.
A will is simply a set of instructions that specifies how you would like your estate to be distributed. Without a will, your estate will be distributed in accordance with the applicable laws of the state and may not express your interests and wishes.
A bequest is a gift from a will. If you wish to make a bequest to charity through your will, simply state in the document that you wish a specific amount or a specific percentage of your entire estate to be donated to one or more individuals or charitable organizations.
Everyone should have a will to ensure that their estate is handled the way they wish.
A charitable gift annuity is a contract in which you exchange a gift of cash or securities for a guaranteed, fixed income each year for the rest of your life. Your gift annuity offers five distinct advantages
A trust is a fund composed of assets, held by a trustee for specific beneficiaries.
This trust is established during your lifetime and avoids probate. Your heirs will then have access to your estate without the delays caused by the probate process. When you set up a living trust, you transfer ownership assets from your estate to the trust. The trust then becomes the owner of these assets. You can transfer real estate, stocks, bonds, retirement plans, or anything else you own. Any person, including you, your spouse, or an institution can be named a trustee and manage your trust.
With a charitable lead trust, your gift is placed in a trust fund and one or more charitable organizations receive income from the investment income of this trust fund. Upon death, your heirs will receive the principal gift that you donated to establish the trust fund. If you have significant assets, this reduces your estate tax liability.
With this type of trust, you can donate highly appreciated assets such as stock to a charity, save on taxes, and receive a life income for yourself and a beneficiary such as your spouse. Upon the death of the last beneficiary, the gifted asset goes to the charity.
With this trust you establish a charitable remainder unitrust and use a portion of the income from the trust to buy a life insurance policy on yourself. The life insurance benefit passes on to your heirs-effectively replacing your charitable gift and avoiding probate and estate taxes for your heirs. This arrangement ensures an estate for your heirs and helps your favorite charity.
This type of trust takes effect upon death. The terms of a testamentary trust are written directly into your will. Your estate, however, will go through probate before assets are transferred. Establishing a trust during your lifetime will ensure that your estate will avoid probate.
This information is for illustration purposes only. Please see your financial and legal advisor for professional advice.
For More Information
For more information about estate planning, please contact your financial or legal advisors. If you wish to learn how your estate can help ensure the future for the Newberry Library, contact Frances Lai, Director of Gift Planning, at (312) 255-3545.