The Retained Life Estate
Give Your Home but Enjoy Life Use
You can give United Cancer Research Society your home and receive a charitable deduction
for it, even though you continue living there. This arrangement is called a "retained
life estate."
Let's assume you want to continue using your personal residence for life. You may also want a survivor (perhaps your spouse) to enjoy life occupancy, but ultimately you'd like United Cancer Research Society to get the property.
Obtain Immediate Tax Savings
By deeding your home to us now, subject to these rights, you can obtain a sizable income
tax deduction this year. The amount depends on the value of the property and your age (and
the age of any person given life use).
Example:
Marjorie, age 65, deeds her home to United Cancer Research Society subject to her
right to live there for life. The market value of th property is $200,000 (the house
$160,000 and the land $40,000). This gift gives her an income tax deduction in excess of
$55,000, based on a discounted value of the gift per the required IRS table (reflecting
her life expectancy at age 65 and future depreciation of the house).
This same charitable deduction opportunity is also available for a farm, vacation home, condominium, or stock in a cooperative housing corporation, if the propertyh is used by you as a personal residence. A farm may include acreage with or without the house.
You Keep Rights and
Responsibilities
In addition to the right to live in your home, you retain the right to rent it or make
improvements. You continue to have responsibility for maintenance, insurance, and property
taxes.
Your gift to United Cancer Research Society must be an irrevocable remainder interest. After your life use and that of any survivor, we must receive the entire property outright.
Tax Savings for Partial Use
Say you have a home you don't occupy year-round. You can make a deductible gift to United
Cancer Research Society of an undivided interest, allowing us exclusive use of th property
for part of each year.
A vacation home can be ideal for this purpose. For example, you could give us a half interest. You would continue to use the property for six months of each year while we, as half owner, would use it for the remaining six months. As a result, you'd be entitled to an income tax charitable deduction based on half the property's fair market value.
Give Your Home to a Trust and Get a
Life Income
If you don't want to live in your unmortgaged home any longer, consider transferring it to
a charitable remainder trust.
The trustee can then sell the property and invest the proceeds in income-producing securities. You'll receive an income for life--and so can a survivor you name. The trust principal becomes ours, without exposure to estate taxes when spouses are the only income beneficiaries.
When you transfer appreciated property held long-term, you won't pay any tax on the capital gain. And you'll benefit from a substantial current income tax deduction.
Personal Satisfaction Added to Tax
Benefits
When you give your home to United Cancer Research Society, you create a tangible and
enduring testimonial as evidence of your interest in our goals. Your personal satisfaction
is complemented by important income and estate tax savings.
Please call our representative to arrange a discussion.
