A retained life estate allows you to donate your personal residence to City of Hope while continuing to live there. You have the option of giving any type of residence, including your primary residence, a vacation home or other property.
This gift allows you to save on estate taxes while supporting City of Hope’s important programs.
Flexible to Meet Your Needs
When you create a retained life estate, you do not have to continue to reside in your home. Your home may be rented for which you receive the rental benefits. You may rent out your home and receive the rental benefits. You may also be eligible to receive a gift annuity with your retained life estate donation.Retained life estates provide the benefit of an immediate tax deduction, which means more income to spend now.
Tax Benefits Through Giving
Below is an illustration of a possible retained life estate arrangement and its tax benefits:
- A married couple, ages 82 and 80, own a home worth $400,000 that was originally purchased for $50,000.
- By donating their home to City of Hope and retaining a life estate, an income tax deduction would be received in the amount of $216,00 – a benefit that would not be available if they left this property to City of Hope through a bequest. Assuming a combined state and federal tax rate of about 41 percent, these donors would realize a tax savings of approximately $88,560. The couple also would be entitled to continue living in their home for the duration of their lives.
- Another scenario to consider is to fund a charitable gift annuity by irrevocably transferring a personal residence to City of Hope. The annuity payments are based upon a percentage of the current value of the future interest in the residence that City of Hope will receive after your demise.
- You can continue to live in your residence for life while also receiving annuity payments.
- You would irrevocably deed your home to City of Hope, but retain the right to live in it for the rest of your life. When your retained life estate ends, City of Hope can then use the proceeds from your sale of your property.
- You would continue to be responsible for all routine expenses such as maintenance fees, insurance and property taxes.
- You would be able to vacate your home and rent all or part of the property to someone else and receive the rental income for your lifetime.
City of Hope’s planned giving officers welcome your inquiries at plannedgiving@coh.org or 800-232-3314.
