Life Insurance

Once a life insurance policy has served its original objective, you might consider giving it a new life with a charitable purpose. Naming St. Cecilia Catholic Church and School as beneficiary while retaining ownership of the policy is actually the easiest way to use life insurance to make a future gift to us. Here are your two main options:

• You can name St. Cecilia Catholic Church and School either as the sole beneficiary or a partial beneficiary of your policy.
• You can name us as the contingent beneficiary, in which case we receive the death benefits only if your primary beneficiary dies before you do.

The benefits of life insurance left to an individual can be subject to estate taxes, but when you change the beneficiary to a charitable entity such as ours, the benefits are tax-free.

Naming us the beneficiary of your life insurance policy provides you the satisfaction of making a very generous donation and leveraging the full value of your policy. Alternatively, when a life insurance beneficiary is not a qualified charity, the amount your loved ones receive in the end could potentially be less due to estate taxes. But when you name St. Cecilia Catholic Church and School as beneficiary, we receive the full amount and estate taxes are eliminated. (With this arrangement, you will not receive a charitable income tax benefit during your lifetime because you are not giving away the policy ownership. Your estate, however, will receive an estate tax charitable deduction.)

The information on this website is not intended as legal or tax advice. For such advice, please consult an attorney or tax advisor.