The story is well-known by now because it’s been all over the news. Apparently a former librarian named Robert Morin who worked at the University of New Hampshire library passed away. In his Last Will and Testament he left a $4 million gift to the school. The University of New Hampshire used $100,000 from the gift to go to the library where Robert worked. The controversy arose because the University chose to use $1 million from the gift to pay for a new electronic scoreboard for the football field.
Many individuals in the community and around the nation are upset that a larger gift was not used by the University for the library. As the facts have come to light Robert’s last will and testament specifically designated that $100,000 would go to the library. However, Robert did not designate specifically how the remaining money should be used by the University. As a result, the University was free to spend $1 million from the gift for the electronic scoreboard despite what others thought should be done.
This news story illustrates the reasons that you should be specific in your last will and testament about any charitable gift that you give. If you really want all the money that you donate to a charity to be used for a specific purpose, then you must state and describe that specific purpose.
Many people are concerned that if they give a specific reason for the use of the money and that specific reason is no longer viable or no longer exists that their charitable gift will fail. However, this is not the case. In addition to providing a specific gift and use for that gift a person can also provide alternative uses if the first use they’ve specified is no longer viable. Let’s use the story from above as an example.
Let’s suppose that Robert left $1 million from his charitable gift to go to the university library. Robert could also state that if for any reason the library no longer existed that the money could be used for any other purpose chosen by the University. In this example, in the unlikely event that the library was destroyed or no longer existed when Robert passed away, then the $1 million dollar gift could still be used by the University and it would not fail. In this example, the general gift would fall into place after the specific gift failed.
If you have any questions about leaving a charitable gift in your last will and testament, we can help. Call us toll free at 877-232-6101 or 208-232-6101 for a consultation with Lane Erickson and the Racine Olson team of Estate Planning attorneys in Idaho. You can also email Lane Erickson directly at lve@racinelaw.net. We will answer your Idaho Estate Planning questions and will help you solve your Idaho Estate Planning problems.
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