Using Your Home as a Gift

Give Property While Continuing to Enjoy Its Use

The most valuable single asset many UA alumni and friends own is their home. Have you ever considered using your home to fulfill your giving desires? Did you know that there is a way to give your house while continuing to live there as always?

Using what is known as a life estate arrangement, you make a gift of your home or other appropriate property now while retaining the security of knowing you may live there as long as you wish. You enjoy the full rights and responsibilities of ownership.

Because you will make a gift of the property at your death, you receive a charitable income tax deduction for part of the value of the property immediately.

You continue to take care of the property, pay the taxes, and even receive any income it generates. But because you have made a gift of the property by deed, it does not pass through your probate estate at death, possibly saving unnecessary expenses and avoiding delays. The property will also not be part of your estate for federal tax purposes, resulting in what may be significant tax savings for your heirs.

Please use the Contact Planned Giving form or e-mail mailbox@advancement.ua.edu if you would like more information about this option.

For example: For example: Marjorie, 77, lives in the family house she and her late husband purchased many years ago. She has no children but has two sisters who live out of state. Marjorie plans to leave the majority of her estate to her sisters and their children, but she would like to make a substantial gift to The University of Alabama in memory of her husband, who was a graduate of UA and was an long-term supporter during his lifetime.

After reviewing all of her assets, Marjorie decides to make a gift of the home to the University now, retaining the right to live in the house for the rest of her life.

In so doing, she gains the satisfaction of knowing she has made a meaningful gift while also enjoying an immediate income tax charitable deduction of more than half of the value of the home, as well as the knowledge that she has removed the home from her estate for tax purposes.