Estate Gifts

Shelley Bell

Good Morning - We have a complicated situation with a family gift and I was hoping someone could give me a bit of clarity on how this gift should be entered. We had a donor pass away last Fall and our organization was a beneficiary of her mutual funds. I created a record for “Estate of ---” and entered the mutual fund gift. Meanwhile, we received a check from her son with a note on the check of Ally beneficiary. So I credited this to the son's record. The son has contacted us noting this check is a donation from the decedent and they should not receive the credit although the check was written from their personal checking account. He had access to the money since his name was on the Ally account. All thoughts and assistance are welcome on how we should enter this gift in RE. Thank you!

Austen Brown

@Shelley Bell - If the deceased was also on the Ally account, it being a shared account, then I would enter the pay-out from that account within the “Estate of ---” record. If you have NXT you can move the gift without having to re-enter it.

Christine Robertson 4

@Shelley Bell Legally, I think the son is the donor (since the check was his), but he clearly wants the estate/the deceased mother to be recognized as the donor. You could certainly accomplish that in several ways (via hard/soft credit, etc.), so I think the important things in determining how you will do this are as follows:

• Do you have an auditor who might have guidance on this?
• How do you usually enter gifts from estates?
• What recognition means do you need to be mindful of (annual report, giving wall, etc.)?
• How do you ensure that this gift isn't included in the son's giving total moving forward (if you communicate that total to him at some point in time)?
  

Joe Moretti 3

@Shelley Bell We had a similar situation at our organization, so we only credited the estate and not the son, but made a note about that.

Dariel Dixon 2

@Shelley Bell You've heard from the donor. I think you do as they've asked. Credit the estate. I think this is similar to a “care of” situation, where the person signing the check may be doing so on the behalf of someone else. That seems pretty clear here.

JoAnn Strommen

@Shelley Bell I am the signer/administrator on my recently deceased parents estate/account. Any checks I write from their bank account are $ from the estate, not me personally.

There is a difference between being a signer on the account (which I was for years though never needed) and being an owner of the account.

Faith Murray

@Shelley Bell
There's a difference here between being an account signer on an estate account and being a personal account owner – as you mentioned the check came from his personal account. This is especially sticky because legally, mutual funds have capital gains taxes and other investment/inheritance requirements that the son perhaps ought to be liable for if the monies did indeed pass through his personal account. While you are not responsible for his potential (unintended) tax fraud, you are liable for providing accurate tax receipting from your organization.

I would, first, call the bank where his check originates and ask if Mr. Son is an account owner or if the account jointly belonged to the deceased. They should be happy to answer your question. If joint with the mother, then yes - apply to the mother's estate. If the account was solely owned by the son, then as others have suggested, I would contact your auditors for guidance.

If it becomes necessary to post to the son's record (as I suspect), I would mark it “no receipt” or (if he insists on a receipt) customize the receipt verbiage to credit the “bank account c/o Mr. Son and Ms. Mother”.

Another option, if you have not deposited the check, is if the account belongs solely to the son, explain that your auditors require you must credit it to the account owner, and could he re-issue the check directly from the mother's estate account? I would only go this route if communications with the son have been warm and cordial, as funerals can bring out personalities.

Shelley Bell

Thanks everyone for your input. Much appreciated - You guys are the best.
I was concerned about the gift being sent via personal check. I will move the gift to the estate record and will make sure all gift notes are added to the gift record. HAPPY FRIDAY!