To ensure that your wishes are fulfilled after your death, it is wise to work with a professional who will carefully help you to prepare your plans and study your estate. By planning now, you will be able to provide for your family’s future, avoid probate and undue taxes, and quite likely be able to create an endowment to benefit a favorite Catholic organization in southwestern Indiana - parish, school, charitable group - and thus provide testament of your faith.
Even persons who may consider their assets to be moderate can benefit from estate planning.
Estate planning is the process of creating a desirable arrangement for the disposition of your assets. The process is accomplished by working with your attorney in cooperation with your accountant, bank trust officer, life insurance agent or other professional advisors.
The objective of an estate plan is to fulfill your wishes regarding family, other people, and charitable organizations or institutions that you wish to benefit from assets you have accumulated. The tax consequences of your estate plans may not be your first concern, but they are an important consideration. Estate taxes will affect the accomplishment of your goals.
A well thought-out estate plan will not only provide benefits to you and your family, but may also make a substantial gift to charity possible. One such option is to open or add to an endowment fund for your parish or another Catholic organization through The Catholic Foundation of Southwestern Indiana, Inc.
It is imperative that you work with estate planning professionals when creating or revising your estate plan or will, or in establishing a trust fund. Before and during the process, you and your advisors are encouraged to contact The Catholic Foundation of Southwestern Indiana to discuss methods of stewardship to assure your specific Catholic charitable wishes are met. All communications with The Foundation are held in confidence.
- Establish your goals and objectives.
- Identify situations that require special planning, such as institutional care for a family member.
- Gather all your financial records, such as pension plans, IRAs, stocks, bonds, insurance policies, and bank accounts.
- Work with an estate planning professional in evaluating various estate planning tools and vehicles.
- Work with your attorney to draft and execute the necessary documents.
- Investigate re-registering securities and other assets.
- Set aside time on a specific date each year to review your plan for family or financial changes.
An endowment is a financial commitment to the promise of the future. By using a charitable gift to establish an endowment, two goals merge into one. 1) The goal that the principal will grow faster than the rate of inflation. And 2) the desire to provide an annual stream of income for the endowment’s specific purpose. The principal is never invaded. Undistributed income - income generated over and above the annual distribution - is reinvested as part of the corpus. This assures corpus growth, thus protecting the endowment in case of an economic downturn. Well managed endowments like those of The Catholic Foundation of Southwestern Indiana, can generate income indefinitely.
Endowments are a means to leave a legacy to the future of the Catholic Church in southwestern Indiana.
Contact an estate planning professional, a trust officer at your bank, life insurance agent, a certified public accountant or an attorney to set up a meeting with The Catholic Foundation of Southwestern Indiana. Together, we can begin to build your legacy of faith that will remain for generations to come.
Cemetery, general parish fund, school, the organ, the stained glass, a fine arts program, adult formation, priest education... the possibilities for designated endowments are limitless. From the most specific item to a general gift for a group or parish, your creativity and faith can guide you in creating a lasting tribute of endless bounty. With your investment in an endowment, you can be confident that your gift will remain as a constant gift and legacy.
Among the most useful gifts are endowments to parish general funds for use on an as-needed basis. Unrestricted gifts such as these offer flexibility to parishes for unexpected challenges and opportunities in the future.
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