Leave your legacy with CLWR

When writing your will, you should provide:

• Appointment of your executor(s) — full name and address(es)
• Disposition of property — full name and address of each beneficiary
  • Gifts of specific items (Letter of Direction/Memorandum of Articles)
  • Gifts of cash (if applicable)
  • Gifts of the Residual of the Estate

If you are in a marital/common-law relationship, the executor would usually be your spouse or partner. If you are single or widowed, or if your spouse or partner is not the best option for you, then you will need to select a suitable person to be the executor of your will.

Charitable bequests

A donation of assets can be in the form of a specific amount of cash or shares; most commonly, it would be a percentage of your estate value (after debts and family needs have been met).

A charitable bequest is a great thing to include in your will because it:

• means you can continue supporting your chosen charity in an impactful way — you will leave a legacy
• creates a tax credit for your estate
• is simple to arrange and doesn’t impact your current income, obligations, needs or lifestyle

Real estate

A gift of real estate can reduce taxes through tax credit and can also minimize the workload and burden placed upon your executor(s) and heirs.

You might consider a gift of real estate in your will if:

• you have considerable real estate holding but modest liquid asset holdings (assets that can easily be converted into cash)
• you no longer need the property nor the proceeds from its sale

The benefits of gifting real estate include:

• you will receive an immediate donation receipt for its fair market value
• there is no capital gains tax if you donate your primary residence
• capital gains up to $1million may be tax exempt when farm property is donated
• after making a gift, you will not have to pay property taxes, maintenance of property management fees, insurance or other outgoing costs

RRSPs and RRIFs are among the most heavily taxed assets.

If a surviving spouse is named as a beneficiary in your RRSP or RRIF, the accounts are transferred tax free. If there is no surviving spouse, the accounts are deemed sold and 100% of the balance is added to your income for the tax year of your passing. This makes your estate responsible for the tax on this income.

However, tax credits for up to 100% of your income can be claimed in the year of your passing—plus up to 75% of your income for the next five years—so it often makes sense to name a charity like CLWR as the beneficiary.

This is a great thing to do because:

• the tax credit from the donation can be applied against your remaining state income tax
• the donation is not subject to probate fees
• you can change the beneficiary at any time
• there are no fees

Gifting a life insurance policy is a great thing to do because:

• existing policies can easily be amended to name a charity as the beneficiary
• the reason or purpose of the policy may not apply any more
• the annual premiums or the insurance amount qualify for a charitable receipt
• the value of your gift will not be subject to probate fees on your estate
• it is low cost with low administration
• you will receive a tax credit
• it will grow into a much larger gift over time

A donation of securities is a great way of offsetting other taxes on your estate. Normally, securities that increase in value are subject to capital gains tax when sold, but if they are donated ‘in kind’ to a charity then this tax is avoided.

The benefits of donating publicly-traded securities are:

• you will not pay tax on the realized gains
• they enable a larger gift to a charity, and therefore a larger charitable receipt
• they can offset other tax liabilities

To qualify for favourable tax treatment, securities must:

• be publicly-traded shares listed on an approved exchange OR be units of a Mutual Fund or Segregated Fund from an insurance company
• have appreciated in value
• be donated in kind directly to the charity (not sold first by the donor)