Bequest Gift
How to include Bay Area Legal Services in my will:
Donors may make charitable gift by naming Bay Area Legal Services as a beneficiary in their wills. The federal government encourages these gift or bequests, by allowing an unlimited estate tax charitable deduction. In addition, a charitable bequest may place your estate in a lower estate tax bracket.
To make a bequest to Bay Area Legal Services, the following language will be helpful to your lawyer:
I give, devise, and bequeath to Bay Area Legal Services the sum of _____________ (or otherwise describe the gift or specify a percentage of the estate).
There are three ways you can make a bequest:
1. Specific Bequest: You designate a specific dollar amount, specific percentage, or specific property to Bay Area Legal Services.
2. Residual Bequest: Your estate will pay all debts, taxes, expenses, and specific bequests. The remaining amount -- the residual -- will be transferred to Bay Area Legal Services.
3. Contingent Bequest: You can ask that Bay Area Legal Services receive all or a portion of your estate only under certain circumstances. For example, you can name Bay Area Legal Services as a beneficiary of your estate only if there are no surviving close family members. Childless couples sometimes provide for the entire estate to go to the surviving spouse, or if the spouse does not survive, to Bay Area Legal Services.
We make no claims regarding the accuracy of the above information or the tax consequences stemming from your use of it. Please consult with your own tax, legal, or financial planning advisor.
Contact Bay Area Legal Services Development Office 813-232-1222 x131 or beppley@bals.org