Winchester Distict Memorial Hospital

Plan Your Gift

Leave a Legacy

Wills and Estates

A bequest in a will or estate could be as simple as a provision to leave a gift of your assets to the WDMH Foundation.

A charitable bequest could involve gifts of cash, real estate or other assets. Most commonly, gifts in a will are given residually, after family and friends are taken care of first. Alternatively, a percentage of the estate value or a set amount may be given.

Since you can claim up to 100% of your income on your final tax return and carry back any excess to the previous year, the tax relief created by an estate gift can be significant, and with detailed planning, your tax bill could be zero!

To learn more about including the WDMH Foundation in your Will – and the benefits of doing so, please read our Gifts By Will Fact Sheet and bring it to your lawyer and/or financial advisor. We are always here to help too! Please reach out to Erin Kapcala, Manager of Major and Planned Giving for the WDMH Foundation at 613-774-2422 ext. 6769.

If you have already identified a gift to the WDMH Foundation in your Will, please email Erin Kapcala or phone her at 613-774-2422 ext. 6769 to let us know of your thoughtful gift. Sharing your intentions will allow us to thank and recognize you now (publicly or privately, as you prefer), and maybe even inspire others to echo your philanthropy.

Make sure your wishes are honoured by having a will. If you pass away without a will, the government will appoint a public trustee who will decide how the assets of your estate will be distributed. These documents may be helpful to you:

Disclaimer: The above information is not intended as legal or financial planning advice. When considering any estate gift, or planned gift you should always consult your legal advisor, financial planner, your family, and the WDMH Foundation, if possible.

Life Insurance

Life insurance can be an excellent planned giving tool for a donor who wishes to make a substantial gift to the WDMH Foundation to benefit the Winchester District Memorial Hospital and/or Dundas Manor Long-Term Care Home. It is a way for moderate, tax-deductible payments to be made over time, resulting in a significant gift at the time of death. New or existing life insurance policies may be donated.

You can receive an income tax receipt for the annual premium payments by naming the WDMH Foundation as the owner and beneficiary of a life insurance policy.

The most attractive advantage to planning a gift of a life insurance policy is that it allows you to make a much larger gift to a charity than you might be able to out of your cash assets.

When using life insurance for charitable gifting, it is important to consider different strategies and the different tax benefits. Below are three ways in which to make a planned gift of a life insurance policy to the WDMH Foundation:

Designate the WDMH Foundation as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy

The most straightforward approach is to buy a life insurance policy where you are the owner of the policy and you designate the charity as the beneficiary.

Name your estate as the beneficiary

This scenario is similar to the first scenario in that you are the owner of the policy. However, instead of naming the charity as the beneficiary, you name your estate as beneficiary and simply leave instructions in your will that the proceeds of the life insurance policy will be paid to your choice of charities.

Transfer ownership of the policy to the WDMH Foundation

In this scenario, if a life insurance policy is set up so that the WDMH Foundation is the owner of the life insurance policy, the premiums for the policy will qualify for a tax credit during your life. However, since you are no longer the owner of the policy, the future death benefit will not qualify for a tax credit (you receive the tax benefit during life, not after you pass).

Which solution is best for you?

Every situation is different and you should consult your professional advisors. The two most crucial issues are control and when you want the tax credits.

Control: With scenario 1 or 2, you maintain control, as you remain the owner of the policy. As the owner, you can change beneficiaries whenever you want. In scenario 3, you relinquish your control when you make the charity the owner of the policy.
Tax: It is important to determine when you want to utilize the tax credits. If you want to have tax credits every year while you are alive, you will need to take a hard look at scenario 3. You give up the control but you get to use the premiums in paying less tax every year. However, if you have a significant amount of accrued tax liabilities in the estate, you may be better off saving the tax credits for the future by using scenario 1 or 2.

Wealth replacement life insurance giving

There is one more way to utilize life insurance in your planned giving strategy. We all have assets and wealth that we may have originally intended to bequeath to children or other beneficiaries. However, did you know that there is a way that you can ensure that those heirs still receive the value of those assets both immediately upon your passing, AND without the assets’ values going through probate?

Wealth replacement life insurance refers to the premise of purchasing a life insurance policy to replace the value of whichever asset you’d like to donate to charity during your lifetime. Then, when you pass, your heirs will receive the life insurance benefit of the same value (life insurance benefits don’t go through probate, so they’re received by the beneficiary immediately and aren’t taxed as income in your estate – so, doubly beneficial).

Questions? Contact the Foundation's Manager of Major and Planned Giving, Erin Kapcala today at 613-774-2422 ext. 6769.

Read our fact sheet on Gifts of Life Insurance

Shares and Securities

Shares, stocks, bonds, and mutual funds – these investments, accumulated over the years, may have grown significantly in value. When you sell these investments, a considerable capital gains tax may result if the current selling price is higher than their original cost.

A gift of publicly listed securities to the WDMH Foundation qualifies for special benefits with changes in income tax regulations announced in 2006. In all cases, Canadians who donate publicly traded securities to a registered charity pay no capital gains tax on the appreciated value of these securities and tax on other, regular income is reduced significantly as a result of the donation receipt.

Donors can give such gifts both during their lifetime and through their estate (Will) – depending on their circumstances and needs.

"In the last few years I have replaced most of my monthly charitable cash donations with a larger annual securities donation that reflects the income tax reductions from the charitable tax deduction and the elimination of capital gains tax that would have been payable. I make this part of my year end investment & tax review process. I have now also recognized that this approach can have any even greater impact when I die and the proceeds of my will are distributed to my beneficiaries."

John Gleed, Morrisburg Resident

Read more about giving gifts of shares or securities. For any questions, contact Erin Kapcala, the WDMH Foundation's Manager of Major and Planned Giving at 613-774-2422 ext. 6769.

There is another option to give shares online. We have a CanadaHelps.org donation page, and through it, you have the option to fill out an online form and then authorize your broker to either give it all to one charity, or you can even split your securities gift across multiple charities with no extra cost or paperwork.

RRSPs and RRIFs

Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) and Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs) are heavily taxed assets of one’s estate.

Donating all or part of an RRSP or RRIF is an effective way to reduce the taxes payable by your estate. If you leave your RRSP or RRIF to the WDMH Foundation, your estate will receive a charitable income tax receipt for the entire amount received!

Consider the following illustrations:

Option 1 (Unplanned): With no charitable gift, a RRIF with value at death of $250,000: CRA receives $100,000 (at 40% tax), and the estate receives $150,000.

Option 2 (Planned): Bequeath the value of your RRIF to the Foundation, payable when you pass away (does not go through probate as income to be taxed). Note: in this option, your heirs are neglected from receiving the value of this asset, but you still receive the same tax credit as option 3 ($100,000), thereby eliminating the tax due on the capital gain.

Option 3 (Planned): You could purchase a $250,000 life insurance policy to replace the value of the asset for your heirs with much less of an investment than the value of the tax you would pay to CRA on your RRIF, and bequeath the value of your RRIF to the Foundation. We would then issue a receipt at your passing for the full value of $250,000; therefore, the tax receipt generates a $100,000 (40%) credit and the tax is eliminated. Another benefit to this scenario is that the life insurance policy will go directly to your beneficiaries upon your passing, and they won’t have to wait until your estate is settled.

So basically, there are two ways to use your RRSP or RRIF to make a charitable gift:

Name your estate the beneficiary of your RRSP or RRIF after your spouse (or eligible dependent child), and have the estate donate an equivalent value to the Foundation.
Name the Foundation as the beneficiary (or alternate beneficiary, after a spouse) on your RRSP or RRIF documents with the financial institution. Upon your death (or that of your spouse), the Foundation receives the balance of the assets directly from the financial institution.

The estate then receives a tax receipt from the Foundation to offset the taxable income.

Read our fact sheet on Gifts of RRSP, RRIF and Shares.

Have questions? Contact Erin Kapcala, the Foundation's Manager of Major and Planned Giving by phone at 613-774-2422 x 6769.