‘costs prepared ... cost to you Seventh in a Series on Estate Planning by Peter Maughan, WSC Development Officer You may be surprised to know whether you have a current will or not - that your will has already been prepared, and the cost to you and your heirs may be much higher | than if you had done it yourself. The State of Utah, or any of the other 49 states in which you may reside, has a will waiting for you. 7 All50 states provide a type of “estate planning”’ for those foolish enough to die without planning ahead. Often what the state decides when you die instate (without a will) has no bearing on what you would like to have happen. A basic difference between your own will and a will imposed by the state is that the state } ey reeisa ssive presupposes that everyone’s objectives are the same. As a _ | result, those you love the most may be among the last to benefit _ when the court disburses what is o§ left of your estate. Wills have been around for a i long time. Most of the following | examples are excerpted from the all ick | book “Wills, A Dead Giveaway,” by Considine and Pool. 1 One of the earliest known wills is |} that of Nek’ure, who had his will } carved on the wall of a tomb about |} 26 AD. Instead of the traditional } “being of sound mind and body”’ of | our day, he wrote, “‘while standing on my own two feet and not ailing in any respect.’’ He then made provision for the disposal of milies rities, 3 not ind »ffer lid. "“Adventurous’ Women (Continued from page 8) } wealthy and in very good health, attractive, and loved to travel. She simply ‘‘took after’’ the man she was attracted to and lived life on her on terms. Her last husband was an ? Arab named El Mezrab and they Many a dog, cat, or bird has been the beneficiary of a will. One Washington D.C. lady left her estate for the upkeep of her pet parakeet by her old housekeeper, who was allowed to maintain the home as long as the parakeet lived. One day the old woman showed up at the register of wills office in Washington D.C. carrying a box containing the dead parakeet. The clerk who talked to her was so impressed with her honesty he felt like suggesting she hide the dead bird and buy another parakeet so she would continue to be supported. The amount of money to be bequeathed does not necessarily dictate the length of a will. A British lady who died in the 1920’s left a will over 1,000 pages long, but the amount involved was only $100,000. Margaret Lacey, in ' January of 1902, inscribed her will on a roll of wallpaper 15 feet long, with most of the bequests $100 or less. Joseph Keefe, who died in 1931 but wrote his will in 1905, had a much shorter will. He simply wrote ‘‘Legal Airs’’ on a will form. Although he didn’t spell so well, legal heirs benefited. Mrs. Agnes Burley, a waitress most of her life, wrote her last will and testament on two paper napkins. At stake was her $34,198 estate. The aid of fortune tellers, spiritualists and palmists has been she was kidnapped by pirates and enlisted by many to track down a lost will. This actually worked in the case of one widow we'll call Mrs. Jones, who had seen her husband’s will leaving her everything. However, that will was nowhere to be found after her was so beautiful they presented her y Jane — to remember him fully in her will. the will was still probated and the _# asa »f her time and she, as a result, neglected | Josephine Bonaparte. While at seas, 4 ible to remember his Aunt at Christmas for the last 20 years of her life. They Dr. Carroll said that Aimee Dubucq de Rivery was of French } aristocracy and a cousin to y was n the fourteen towns and two estates to be divided among his wife, three children and one woman. Wills often provide unique insights into the thinking of the writer. A woman from Brooklyn remembered every person in her | will who had ever shown her any kindness - including waitresses, her milkman and neighbors. She also had two nephews. She remembered in her will, to the tune of $50,000 the one who had sent her a Christmas card. The other nephew received only $25,000. He neglected lived happily in the Arabian lifestyle did not demand change of each other. ) Was eral 1S high! gift to the Sultan of Turkey, Abd ul Hamid I. She became his | favorite wife and the mother of Mahmoud IT next ruler. Early in her } life a fortune teller had told her she _ had a “‘strange destiny.” husband’s death. The only one The fourth woman, Isabelle Eberhardt, lived in the desert with her Arabian husband and delighted inriding horses across the sand. She was a journalist and very found was a much earlier one, written before their marriage, leaving everything to the husband’s sister. Mrs. Jones was convinced the sister had found the later will and hidden or destroyed independent. However, she died in the most unusual way. She drowned it. Despite that thought, Mrs. in the desert in a flash flood! Jones gave the sister a painting of WSC receives deferred stock gift Weber State College has recently received a $139,000 deferred stock gift from Dr. and Mrs. Doyle Udy of Boulder, Colorado. Mrs. Udy, the former Madelyn Hillis, is a 1945 graduate of Weber. Dr. Udy is president of U.D. Inc., a Colorado firm which 3 manufactures analytical equipment for the measuring of protein in foods. Peter Maughan, WSC Development Officer, said the gift was presented in the form of stock which has been sold and the proceeds managed by a trustee acting for the college. “Deferred giving has distinct advantages for both the donor and the college and is a common way for a donor to make a gift to an institution such as Weber State,” _ said Maughan. One of the most used methods of deferred giving, and the way Dr. and Mrs. Udy made their gift to Weber, is through a unitrust. A unitrust is a trust from which a fixed percentage of the net fair market of the gift, as determined © annually, must be paid to the donor (or to other agreed upon beneficiaries) for life. The percentage of return to the donor must be a minimum of 5 percent and may be much higher. Though WSC will ultimately be the a desert and mountain scene belonging to her husband - a painting the sister had always coveted. About a year after her husband died, Mrs. Jones was at a party bequeathed every single item, including two fly-catchers, to friends or relatives. In spite of his supposed dislike of children, Fields left provisions in his will for the establishment of an orphanage. Unfortunately, court battles and lawyer’s fees dissipated everything that was earmarked to provide, for the children. A kindly old spinster from new York took a liking to a courtly Russian Noble named Baron Gregory von Zeitzoff and kept him living in style at the Waldorf. When where a fortune teller was brought in to tell the guest’s fortunes. The particular fortune teller’s gimick was to have the person whose fortune she was telling throw a bunch of stones on a table. The fortune was then told from the way the stones fell. When Mrs. Jones tossed her stones, the fortune teller said, ‘“You are worried about an important document. I see an apartment in Greenwich Village where one walks up three steps from the living room to a hallway (an exact description of the sister’s apartment). Hanging on the wall there is a picture or painting of desert and mountains. The document is hidden behind that picture.’’ And it was! Some wills of the famous and near famous have interesting provisions. A 29 year old German, Otto Flick, inherited almost half of the Mercedes-Benz fortune on the condition that he never be seen in any car other than a Mercedes. W.C. Fields made a complete inventory of everything in and around his home. He then recipient of Dr. and Mrs. Udy’s gift, this unitrust, as with all unitrusts, provides no benefit to the school during the lifetime of the donors. The donors, however, receive an income for life after which the college is paid the balance of the trust by the trustee. In this case a bank was named to manage the trust. A unitrust properly invested can provide both the donor and the college with increasing benefits. For example, a unitrust originally funded with a gift of $200,000 and (Continued on page 11) she died at 85 she left the Baron an income from a $7,500,000 trust fund. The Baron died three months later. He turned out to be neither a Baron nor a Zeitzoff - but just plain Greg Zaitzeff. - But wills don’t have to be fancy or have exotic provisions. The main idea is to have a will or some minimum of estate planning. If you do not have an estate plan, now is a good time to consider your options. If you would like to learn more about the personal benefits that come from protecting your present and future earnings through estate planning, or would like further information on wills, please complete the following information and mail to: Please send me your booklet on: STOTTeT ink Your Will has already been [] [1 Estate Planning - A Blueprint Charitable Unitrusts [ 1 would like additional information on the advantages of estate planning, or contributions to Weber State College. Phone ( ) NAME ADDRESS CITY. STATE The years you attended Weber: 6:19... The years your spouse attended Weber: ZIP. 19__—