At the Community Foundation, we are fortunate to be the recipient and steward of numerous legacy gifts, many of which are structured as bequests in wills. Even after donors have taken steps to plan a bequest and document their intentions, they may still have questions about what happens while their estates are being settled. Often this depends on the type of bequest.
Some bequests take the form of a “specific bequest,” which means that the Community Foundation receives a specific amount of money from the donor’s probate estate or trust. In these situations, the Community Foundation will be ready to receive your bequest, typically as soon as the estate is settled.
In other situations, you may want to leave the remainder of your estate after all specific bequests, expenses and taxes have been paid. These types of bequests are called “residuary” bequests. The language can look something like this:
I give, devise, and bequeath to the Central New York Community Foundation (EIN15-0626910), Syracuse, New York, a New York nonprofit corporation, the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, both real and personal, to be held, administered and used by the board of directors per my instructions provided separately.
Because the amount of a residuary bequest cannot be determined until all the assets in an estate have been identified and valued and all expenses and taxes have been paid, the Community Foundation will not receive the full amount of a residuary bequest until the estate is completely settled. Typically, however, the estate’s personal representative or trustee will make what is known as a “partial distribution” to the residuary beneficiary (or beneficiaries, as the case maybe), as soon as the personal representative has enough information about the assets and liabilities to confidently do so.
When you leave a residuary bequest to the Community Foundation, our team will be involved at various steps during the administration of your estate until final distribution. For example, we will receive regular communications about the estate related to assets, expenses, taxes and periodic accountings. We will also execute documents, such as receipts, related to distributions and other estate transactions.
Once all assets have been received, we will follow the guidance outlined in your legacy plan to sustain your impact for generations to come. Our goal is to ensure that your charitable intentions are achieved, from structuring a bequest all the way through to the dollars flowing to the causes you care about the most.
