Life Estate Gifts
A Life Estate Gift through a life estate contract enables you to give a personal residence to Stonehill and to retain lifetime use of it for yourself, for your spouse, a friend or loved-one.
Life estate contracts allow you to:
- Retain the use of the residence and any income derived
- Realize an immediate income tax savings
- Realize an eventual estate tax savings
Your income tax savings is based on the present value of the gift of the remainder interest to the College. If you have already left property in your will to Stonehill or are considering such an arrangement, you may want to consider this Life Estate Gift option so you can benefit from a current income tax deduction.
Here's an example:
Frank, Class of '53, owns a beautiful home in Onset, Massachusetts worth $700,000, which he bought for $400,000. Frank wants to make a substantial gift to Stonehill, but he wants to continue living in his home, which has a beautiful view of the water.
Frank would give Stonehill his home but retain a life estate for himself. He will continue to live in the house until his death. Frank then gains a large and immediate income tax deduction (over $360,000 based on our example) and removes the house from his estate, thus reducing future estate and inheritance taxes for his heirs. He also has the satisfaction of knowing that he has made a major deferred gift to Stonehill, which will establish a scholarship fund Frank will set up in his wife Helen's memory.
For more information please call the Gift Planning Office at 508-565-1344.