Gift Planning

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Charitable Remainder Unitrust
Complete gift description

This is the gift plan that makes partnering with Notre Dame more productive. By addressing more of your and your family's financial planning needs than any other life-income gift, the charitable remainder unitrust unlocks your ability to make a significant gift to Notre Dame.

The unitrust is an individually managed trust paying its beneficiaries – you, your spouse, family members, or other individuals – income as a fixed percentage of the value of its principal, which is revalued annually. Here's how a unitrust works:

• The unitrust pays income to the beneficiaries for their lifetimes, for a term of up to 20 years or for a combination of both.
• Beneficiaries receive a fixed percentage of the value of the trust's principal, which is revalued annually.
• Income in excess of that unitrust amount is reinvested to maintain principal and allow for growth.
• When your unitrust terminates – at the death of the last beneficiary or at the end of the trust term – the remaining balance will be available to Notre Dame for the use you designated when you created the trust.

Most importantly, because of a recent IRS letter ruling received by Notre Dame, your unitrust can earn the rate of return of the Notre Dame endowment, one of the best performing endowments in all of higher education. Learn More…

What are the tax advantages of a unitrust?

• If you fund a unitrust with appreciated securities or property, no up-front capital gains tax is payable. You can contribute appreciated but low-yielding assets and put the entire value of your gift to work generating higher income for you.
• Similarly, no capital gains tax is applied to the growth of a unitrust's principal. Notre Dame offers a version of the unitrust – explained in more detail below, and in the gift example – that maximizes growth for a term, then reinvests the appreciated principal in income investments with no reduction for capital gains tax.
• Besides avoiding capital gains tax, you also receive a charitable deduction when you create a unitrust. Your deduction will be based on the full fair market value of the assets you contribute, reduced by the present value of the assets you retained. We can generate this deduction amount for your planning purposes.

How do you create a charitable remainder unitrust?

Setting up a charitable remainder unitrust is not particularly difficult, but you should be advised by an attorney with expertise in the area of charitable trusts and estate planning. To save you time and expense, we can provide you with an initial draft of the unitrust agreement for review by you and your attorney. Once your trust agreement is signed, you can "fund" your unitrust by transferring assets to your trustee.

For more information

Email us, complete the personal illustration form, or call us at (574) 631-2661 so that we can assist you through every step of the process.

Questions? Please contact:

Office of Gift Planning
1100 Grace Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556-5612
Phone: (574) 631-2661
Fax: (574) 631-6957
jjessup@nd.edu