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Retained Life Estates

Your home is one of your most valuable assets. With a retained life estate, you can give your home to us now, but continue to live in it for as long as you wish.

Make a greater gift than you might have thought possible and receive immediate tax benefits without changing your living situation.

A retained life estate may be right for you if:

  • You want to continue to live in your home.
  • You do not plan to pass on your home to family or other heirs.
  • You itemize your income tax deductions and want to save on income taxes now.
  • You want to make a significant gift to Walnut Hill School for the Arts.

How it Works

  1. You transfer the deed to your home to Walnut Hill.
  2. You continue to live in your home for as long as you wish. You remain responsible for upkeep, taxes, and other expenses during this time.
  3. When the plan ends, Walnut Hill will become the sole owner of your home. Typically, we will then sell your home and use the proceeds.

How Your Gift Helps

Your gifts to Walnut Hill School for the Arts help to educate talented, accomplished, and intellectually engaged young artists from all over the world. It will provide Walnut Hill with the resources to . . .

  • develop new arts programming, enhance our facilities, and recruit talented and dedicated faculty;
  • promote our core values of community, creativity, excellence, growth, and respect;
  • invest in today’s Walnut Hill students, and those of future generations to come.

Retained Life Estate Details

A retained life estate is an irrevocable arrangement between you and Walnut Hill School for the Arts. You deed your home to us in exchange for an agreement that gives you the right to live in your home for as long as you choose, even for the rest of your life. When your retained life estate arrangement ends, your home becomes our property to use or sell. Typically, we will sell your home and use the proceeds.

Example

Steven and Emilie Pearce, ages 78 and 77, still live in the house in which they raised their three children. Steven and Emilie are in good health and have no plans to move. Their house has appreciated greatly over the years and is now worth about $600,000. Their children are grown with homes of their own and have no interest in keeping the house in the family.

Steven and Emilie would like to make a large gift to Walnut Hill School for the Arts, but they don’t feel comfortable giving a significant portion of their investment assets away. They are excited to learn that they can give their house instead while continuing to live in it for as long as they wish. Their lifestyle won’t change at all as a result of their arrangement. They also are attracted by the income tax charitable deduction of about $267,920* that they can use immediately to reduce their income taxes if they itemize their income tax deductions.

Benefits

  • Steven and Emilie can continue to live in their home for the rest of their lives.
  • They receive an immediate income tax charitable deduction of about $267,920*.
  • They may deduct up to 30% of their adjusted gross income in the year of the gift. If they cannot use their entire deduction in the year of their gift, they may carry forward the balance for up to five additional years.
  • They will provide major support to Walnut Hill, currently worth $600,000.
  • Their home is no longer in their estate, potentially saving estate taxes.

*Steven and Emilie’s income tax charitable deduction may vary depending on the timing of their gift. Their ability to benefit from an income tax charitable deduction will depend on their ability to itemize their income tax charitable deductions.