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Your gifts, memorials and honorariums are greatly appreciated. For
memorials and honorariums, be sure to include the name of the person
being remembered/honored and a card of appreciation will be sent to
the family or individual so honored.
Please make checks payable to:
Five Rivers Historic Preservation or "5RHP"
Mail to:
Five Rivers Historic Preservation
c/o Sheila Rose
P.O. Box 896
Pocahontas AR 72455
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Charitable giving is not only for the wealthy!
Charitable organizations need
financial assistance from people like you to continue their work.
More than 80 percent of Americans contribute to the nonprofit groups
of their choice throughout their lifetimes. But according to
research conducted in 2000, only around eight percent of people
chose to continue this support through a charitable bequest.
By making bequests and other "planned gifts," you can continue to
help organizations that are making an important difference in your
community.
What better way to thank the people or organizations that have had
an impact on your life, than to make a contribution from your estate
through a bequest?
Gifts large and small are important. Charitable giving is not only
for the wealthy!I have children and
relatives. Shouldn’t I leave my entire estate to them?
This is perhaps the number one cause
for reluctance when making a bequest. But you may consider that your
heirs are already making a pretty good life on their own, and that
you could easily give 10% of your estate to support an organization
that has made an impact on your life, and still pass 90% of your
estate on to your children and heirs.
Gifts large and small are important.
Charitable giving is not only for the wealthy!
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A charitable bequest is simply a distribution from your estate to a
charitable organization through your last will and testament. There
are different kinds of bequests. For each, you must use very
specific language to indicate the precise direction of your assets,
and to successfully carry out your final wishes. This is why we r ecommend
that you consult a lawyer regarding your estate planning, regardless
of the size if your estate. It's important that your heirs not be
left fighting over their share of your estate.
If you don’t have a will, the state where you live will control who
gets your property by default. State laws are modeled after what the
legislature thinks most people will want to do, but what the laws
say might not be in line with your wishes. That's why it's important
that you leave a will, so your wishes can be carried out exactly as
you defined them.
You can leave the Five Rivers Historic Preservation a percentage of
your estate (a "general bequest") or you can leave a "specific
bequest" of a particular item or property. Another option is a
"residuary bequest" where you leave to the Center what's left of
your estate after all your other bequests are dealt with.
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What is a Trust?
It's a legal document that, like a will, contains your instructions
for what you want to happen to your assets when you die. But, unlike
a will, a living trust avoids probate at death. A revocable
intervivos or "living" trust is an important part of the estate plan
of many people. Intervivos means "during life," which is when the
trust is established. Revocable means that the creator, also known
as the grantor, of the trust can change the terms of the trust or
revoke it completely during his or her lifetime. Assets in trust are
not part of your will; they are transferred according to the
instructions in the trust document.
With a trust you can, for example, leave your assets to continue to
care for your surviving spouse while they live, then transfer assets
from the trust to a charitable organization such as the Five Rivers
Historic Preservation upon the death of your spouse.
You can even place your assets in trust now, before you die, so that
the trustee (a bank or other institution) takes care of your bills
and investments for you now, then distributes the assets as you wish
after your death.
Revocable Living Trust
A living trust is an arrangement you create during your lifetime to
provide for yourself and your family both before and after your
death. It has built-in flexibility that can work very well with your
overall estate plans. Though there are many advantages to using this
estate planning tool, you can still have a will, too, if you wish.
Some Characteristics of a Trust
Reduction of probate costs
Although you can enjoy the use of the assets you place in a
trust during your lifetime, a living trust removes those assets from
your estate for probate purposes. Therefore, you save the probate
and administration costs you would incur if those same assets were
distributed by the terms of your will.
Speedy Distribution of Trust Assets
By establishing a living trust during your lifetime, you are setting
up a method of managing and distributing your assets. Because a
living trust escapes the probate process, the plan of distribution
you describe is set in motion immediately at your death. There are
none of the delays that occur under distribution by will. With a
trust plan, you can be sure your assets ultimately will benefit the
charitable institution, such as ours, that means so much to you.
Flexibility of Planning
Another advantage of a living trust is the overall flexibility it
provides. Most living trusts are revocable. This gives you the
freedom to amend, add to or even completely revoke the trust
agreement as you wish.
Freedom of Control
Living trusts give you the freedom to name both the beneficiaries
and the trustee. Most likely you will name yourself as the trustee
during your lifetime and maintain the right to appoint and select
successor trustees and beneficiaries. You also control the income
and principal and how much of it you wish to use during your
lifetime.
Investment Management
You may choose to appoint a professional trustee such as a bank
trust department or trust institution. This frees you from the worry
of the day-to-day management of assets, yet you still may direct
investment goals, including instructing your trustee to change
investment strategies.
If you wish, you can give your trustee broad powers and allow the
trustee to make the decisions, do all the paperwork and collect the
dividends and interest and credit them properly. You would receive
periodic and detailed accounting statements, including year-end data
for tax purposes. This means you could travel extensively, knowing
that your trustee would be managing all the details of your trust
assets. Should you suffer a prolonged illness, your trustee could
even pay your medical and household bills.
Confidential Trust Terms
One of the most favorable aspects of a living trust is the privacy
it allows. Unlike a will, no one, other than the beneficiaries,
needs to know the contents of a trust.
Charitable Contributions
Charitable contributions may be made easily with a living trust.
Once your needs and those of your family are met, trust assets can
be distributed to charitable organizations like Five Rivers Historic
Preservation.
Some Final Thoughts
Your philanthropic motives must blend with your personal needs and
tax planning. There is rarely a single route to your estate planning
goals.
A living trust gives you flexibility while you receive income from
your assets during your lifetime, and it can provide asset
management after your death.
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