Gifts from Estate Plans

Many alumni and friends have found the best way to make a significant gift to National Louis University is through their estate plan.  Such gifts are revocable while you are alive and the right one may reduce the taxes that your estate would owe.

Wills
Outright Bequests
Residuary Bequests
Contingent Bequests
Financial Accounts
Retirement Accounts
Life Insurance
Personal Property

Wills

A bequest is the most common way to provide NLU and your other favorite charities with a gift from your estate.  This gift option provides you with full access to your financial assets during your life.  Some examples of the most commonly used bequest language is provided on the Bequests Language page.

Charitable bequests take many forms.  This page lists a few of the most common instruments, but please remember, you should always consult a tax attorney before finalizing any of these plans. Back To Top

Outright Bequests

It is important to always be as specific as possible when describing the property to eliminate any confusion for the executor.  You simply need to indicate exactly which asset you are leaving to National Louis University, whether it is a specific amount of money or an item of property.  If you do elect to make a gift of property, please contact our office so we can review our gift acceptance policy with you and we can be sure there are no problems with your specific gift. Back To Top

Residuary bequests

This option comes into play after all of your specific bequests have been distributed.  You would simply designate a percentage of the residue to National Louis University.  For example, your will would read “I give one quarter of the residue of my estate”.  With this approach you never know the exact amount of the bequest until the trustee has completed an exact accounting of the remainder.  If your goal is to fund a restricted project or program, you will need to be sure that your residual bequest will be sufficient to fund the project. Back To Top

Contingent bequests

As you would expect, this allows you to make secondary plans that would take over if some unexpected occurrence impacted your outright or residual bequests.  An example would be “I bequeath $10,000 to my father, but if he predeceases me, I direct the $10,000 to be paid to National Louis University. Back To Top

Financial Accounts

Most accounts at your financial institutions can be made payable upon your death to a person or charitable organization.  Ask your representative how you can designate a death beneficiary for your CD, savings account, checking account, or other shared accounts.  Typically these forms are POD, payable upon death (POD) or transfer on death(TOD). Back To Top

Retirement Accounts

One of the best ways to save both income and estate taxes is to use your IRA or other retirement account is to make a charitable gift upon your death.  Typically family members should expect to only keep 30 cents on the dollar, after taxes, from these assets.  Specific IRA regulations have also made it easier to make a direct gift from your account, but please check with an advisor, as these laws typically last for only year or two and Congress doesn’t always renew them. Back To Top

Life Insurance

Did you fund a life insurance policy when your children were young and now you find you don’t need it anymore?  These are the best policies to transfer the ownership to NLU.  This gift entitles you to a tax deduction and if the policy isn’t paid in full, your future premium payments are also tax deductible. Back To Top

Personal Property

There can be tremendous benefits to leaving your home or farm to the University.  Please contact us directly if you would like to learn more about such a gift. Back To Top