This article discusses charitable bequest language specific bequest charity. A will customarily makes bequests in the form of specific dollar amounts, such as "To my beloved daughter, Mabel, if she survives me, the sum of $25,000." But this standard practice makes two assumptions that may be out of line: (1) That the dollar value of the estate to be distributed is known with some reasonable degree of accuracy. (2) That there will be enough wealth available to implement the designated dollar bequests.
Making such assumptions, especially in times of serious economic uncertainties, can be problematic. For one thing, specific dollar bequests are no guarantee that the decedent's estate will be distributed in accordance with his wishes-although this is the principal objective of estate planning.
The solution: Make your bequests in the form of percentages of your estate rather than predetermined dollar amounts. Then, if inflation or assets of unsuspected high value make the estate worth more than you had anticipated, the originally conceived allocations of your dollar worth will be self adjusting. On the other hand, if the estate should prove to be smaller than you had anticipated, the beneficiaries you had named continue to be the recipients of your bounty, but bequests will automatically be scaled down in terms of what is available at that time.
The percentages you select should take into account certain minimum provisions required by state law. Check with counsel to learn the minimum percentages the state requires you to leave to a widow, widower, or child. See bequest for more information.

Sometimes a bequest (to a friend or a black sheep relative) will upset family members. Thus, the estate owner wants to keep the bequest secret. But the will must be probated in court, making all bequests public knowledge.
How to keep the secret: Take out a life insurance policy. Proceeds will be paid immediately on death without waiting for probate, and there will be no public announcement. (The executor will know about it and it will be subject to estate tax unless the policy is given to the person, too.) The insurance company will probably require that the first beneficiary named be a family member. Get around the provision by changing the beneficiary after the policy has been issued.
Or, set up a trust now and provide instructions in the trust document and a letter to the trustee. These papers remain private. The will discloses only how much money goes to the trust, not what the trust does with it.

To Charitable Bequest Language Specific Bequest Charity- Top

If properly structured, a charitable bequest can serve a person's estate planning objectives by making provision for the assistance of members of his own family. If the recipient organization is a bona fide religious, charitable, etc., body, a charitable bequest is deductible even though preference is to be given in the selection of ultimate beneficiaries to relatives of the testator, provided that they qualify as objects of legitimate charitable purposes.
• A deduction was allowed for a bequest to set up an educational loan fund to provide scholarships "first to relatives or other boys or girls," who lacked funds.
• Recognition was given to a decedent's bequest to pay the annual income of a trust to persons in need of financial assistance, despite this language in the will: "It is my wish that, in carrying out the objects in this trust fund, preference be given to my relatives and friends that are in need of such aid and assistance.' ,
• Charitable Bequest Language Specific Bequest Charitys were deemed to be charitable when university scholarships were funded for high school graduates "in need of funds." Preference was to be given to applicants with the same surname as the grantor, who were related to him; but the scholarships could be awarded to other qualified persons if no applicant met the special qualification. Although the testator plainly expressed a preference that properly qualified persons with his surname who were relatives should have the opportunity to benefit from the scholarships, his charity was not confined to such persons.
• One decedent's will set up a trust to provide scholarships for students who wanted education in vocational or agricultural studies. The trustee was first to award scholarships to students who had been the decedent's employees or their descendants, a requirement that could be waived in favor of any students only if insufficient employees made applications. This bequest qualified for deduction, being for the benefit of a general class as distinguished from mere benevolence to employees, so long as the general class to be benefitted (nonemployees) was not so small that the community did not benefit from the aid given to students.