Estate Planning

Charitable Legacies

By Hull and Hull LLP

Apart from the moral obligation to benefit family discussed in yesterday's blog, a testator may feel an ethical obligation to benefit charity.  This is another way of leaving a legacy.  If the testator performed volunteer work for a specific charity, a testamentary bequest can be seen as a natural extension of a lifetime commitment to a cause. 

Of course, the groundwork for a legacy may be laid outside of the testamentary context.  For example, consider the inter vivos donations made by Michael DeGroote to McMaster University leaving a legacy not only of financial support but by the naming of McMaster's business and medical schools in recognition of Mr. DeGroote's generosity.

Testators who were generous to charities in their lifetime often will similarly wish to benefit those same charities in their Wills. Indeed, a charitable bequest in a Will to a charity to which the testator had a history of donating is useful evidence in support of the validity of a Will.  Conversely, a significant charitable bequest to an entity entirely unknown to the testator may (in certain circumstances) raise a red flag. 

David M. Smith 

Full post as published by Toronto Estate Law Blog on January 20, 2011 (boomark / email).