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Building a LegacyA newsletter from the William Mitchell Institutional Advancement Office

For retired lawyer William (Bill) Reed ’69 and his wife Bonnie, spending summers hunting, fishing, and enjoying each other’s company at their home on Big Sandy Lake in Northern Minnesota are the rewards for a lifetime of hard work and a successful career. As a young land surveyor with a wife and two small daughters, Bill became fascinated with the legal aspect of surveying and land law. He took a number of night classes at the University of Minnesota on these subjects, then learned of William Mitchell and set up a meeting with Dean Doug Heidenreich. After the meeting, Bill took the LSAT and scored well (he

jokes that his results must have been mixed up with someone else’s). He was admitted to William Mitchell. Bill lives by the credo, “you get out of life what you put in,” and law school was no exception. “I have great memories of, and appreciation for, the Dean’s assistance,” he says. Mitchell was the logical choice for Bill because he was working full-time and needed to support his family. “And it [Mitchell] had a great reputation,” he says. Upon Bill’s graduation from William Mitchell in 1969, the Reeds moved their family to Denver, where Bill had secured a job as an attorney with a national title insurance company. After just nine months, Bill felt the pull toward private practice and wanted to try lawsuits. He signed on with an insurance defense firm. He liked the trial work and ferreting out facts that helped his client’s case—it reminded him of hunting, a favorite hobby. But the rigorous preparation for trial and increasingly clogged courts meant long hours, which took too much time away from his family and avocations. To balance work, family, and hobbies, Bill accepted theposition of chief counsel for

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Bill ‘69 and Bonnie Reed

Giving Back: Appreciation for a Lifetime of Fulfillment

Page 2You can make a difference for William Mitchell

Page 3A Financial Planning Strategy to Consider: Deferred Charitable Gift Annuity

Page 4Ask the Expert: The Economy and Giving

Institutional AdvancementWilliam Mitchell College of Law875 Summit AvenueSt. Paul, MN 55105www.wmitchell.edu/alumni651-290-6370email: marie.ruzek@wmitchell.edu

Written by Marie Ruzek ‘01, Development Officer

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I knew long ago that I wanted to give something back.”

Feature continued from Page 1Colorado operations for the title company Transamerica, which later bought Commonwealth and Lawyers, and had 85 offices in the state under his purview. The position allowed him to put his surveying and legal experience to work settling claims and going to court. The job was such a great fit for him that he stayed for 25 years–even past typical retirement age. Then “I decided that I would soon be middle-aged and needed more time to hunt, fly, and get that lake place in Minnesota,” Bill jokes. Like many people, lawyers put off their own estate planning. Bill admits that he and Bonnie did not have a will at the time of his retirement, deeming Colorado’s statutory will adequate for their purposes at the time. In 2004, when Bill retired, he and his wife made creating a trust a priority, and William Mitchell was first on their list of charitable beneficiaries. “I knew long ago that I wanted to give something back,” he says. “I feel that William Mitchell has opened many doors for me, expanded my vision from that of a mathematics, physics, objective-oriented thinker to being more analytical and accepting of contrary views. This generally made life more interesting than it

might have been had I remained a surveyor only, although I could have done that and been happy. Dean Heidenreich and William Mitchell made that possible.” Bill has many fond and humorous memories of his time at law school, despite the hard work and pressure that come with the desire to do well. “I enjoyed the study of all aspects of the law, and many of the associations with my classmates have remained to this day—

I remember them all well, as I do the professors,” Bill says. “It was as with Air Force buddies—you’ve gone through a lot together.” One professor who is particularly

memorable is Kyle Montague. “In our orientation class the first night at William Mitchell, the professor stated that ‘...the law is a jealous mistress’,” Reed remembers. An avid pilot, Bill and Bonnie fly back and forth to Minnesota and Colorado in a T-6 “Texan,” an advanced trainer in World War II and combat plane in the Korean Conflict. The nose art includes part of Professor Montague’s aphorism, “Jealous Mistress,” because much like the law, an airplane keeps one occupied. “Retirement, despite having very much enjoyed my working career, is the best job I ever had,” says Bill.

You can make a difference for William MitchellOur team of development professionals can help you and your estate planning advisors develop a plan to satisfy both your family and philanthropic goals. Contact: Lisa Barton ’97, 651-290-6357lisa.barton@wmitchell.edu, or Marie Ruzek ’01, 651-290-6412marie.ruzek@wmitchell.edu. And if you have not yet included the law school in your plans, there are several ways to become a Mitchell donor: •Cashandpledges •Stockandothersecurities •Realestate •IRAandretirementassets •Income-producinggifts •Charitableleadtrusts •Lifeinsurance •Estategifts To ensure that we honor your wishes, please call Institutional Advancement at 651-290-6375 if your plans change.

A Gift in Your WillAn Easy Way to Turn Your Good Intentions into Action

Sample Bequest LanguageI give William Mitchell College of Law, 875 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105, (____% of the residue of my estate) or (the sum of $______), to be used wherever the needs and opportunities are greatest.

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I feel that William Mitchell

has opened many doors for me.

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haritable gift annuities are a wonderful way to make a gift to William Mitchell College of Law because they can be tailored to meet your individual financial needs and timetable for receiving regular payments. Traditional charitable gift annuities are contractual gift arrangements; you make a gift to a charitable organization and the organization promises to provide you with regular payments for life. The charitable gift annuity provides you with an immediate fixed payout, as well as a charitable income tax deduction for a portion of the gift and partial avoidance of capital gains taxes if the gift is funded with appreciated securities.

Deferred Gift AnnuitiesA deferred charitable gift annuity works like a traditional charitable gift annuity except the payment start date is deferred to a later date you select, at least one year after the gift is made. Many individuals choose age 65, the typical retirement age, to begin to receive payments because they may then be in a lower tax bracket. Deferred gift annuity payments are higher than traditional gift annuity payments because William Mitchell hasn’t had to pay the annuity for a number of years before payments commence, which allows the principal to grow. As with the traditional charitable gift annuity, you receive a charitable income

tax deduction, which is taken in the year the gift is made, not in a future year when you begin to receive the annuity payments. Capital gains taxes are partially avoided if you make your gift with appreciated securities. To supplement retirement income, younger individuals often use deferred gift annuities to defer payments until retirement. Other people, however, like the flexibility that a deferred gift annuity offers. Some like to make a gift to a charitable organization at, for example, age 70, and defer the annuity payments until a few years later, perhaps age 75. When choosing a date to begin to receive payments, keep in mind that the older you are when you receive the payments, the larger your payments will be.

How It WorksYou make the contribution now, securing a current income tax charitable deduction, and William Mitchell agrees to pay you fixed payments for life starting on the date you select. This is beneficial if your tax bracket is higher now than you anticipate it will be later. The William Mitchell Development staff will be glad to run a personal illustration for you showing the specific financial benefits you can enjoy. Contact Marie Ruzek at marie.ruzek@wmitchell.edu or 651-290-6412 to request your personalized illustration today.

A Financial Planning Strategy to Consider: Deferred Charitable Gift Annuity

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Carol is age 50.

She gives $40,000 to a deferred payment gift annuity, arranging for payments to start when she reaches age 65.

She itemizes her income tax deductions, so she’ll be able to deduct $11,362*.

Based on then-current rates, she’ll receive $4,480 each year ($1,447 of which is income tax-free) beginning at age 65, a rate of 11.2 percent.

*This example is based on quarterly payments and a 3.4 percent charitable midterm federal rate.

Example

© The Stelter CompanyThe information in this publication is not intended as legal advice. For legal advice, please consult an attorney. Figures cited in examples are for hypothetical purposes only and are subject to change. References to estate and income tax include federal taxes only. Individual state taxes and/or state law may impact your results.

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I want to continue my gifts to charity, but I’m concerned about retirement

and the economy. Is now a good time for me to make a gift?

If so, what strategies might I use?

Ask the Expert: The Economy and GivingWritten in consultation with Robert (Bob) F. Collins ’65 of Lindquist & Vennum, who specializes in complex estate and charitable planning. Bob can be reached at rcollins@lindquist.com.

Gifts of appreciated stock may be a good option. You avoid capital gains tax and receive a tax deduction. Or, if your stocks are under water, sell them, take a capital loss (up to $3,000/year) to offset your income, and gift the sale proceeds.

Using individual retirement account (IRA) assets may make sense for you. It is simple to change your IRA beneficiary designation form to give a percentage of your IRA to charity. Or, you may designate charity as remainder beneficiary of (part or all of) your IRA and if (and to the extent) your spouse decides she does not need the IRA, she may disclaim, in which case the IRA would pass directly to the charitable beneficiary. Beneficiaries other than the surviving spouses or charity are heavily taxed on inherited IRA assets.

Also in 2009, if you are 70 ½ or older, you are eligible to make outright gifts totaling up to $100,000 from your qualified IRA directly to charity tax-free.

Including a charitable bequest in your will is an easy way to make a gift to William Mitchell without affecting money you need for a secure retirement. The following is sample bequest language you may give to your estate planning attorney:

I give William Mitchell College of Law, 875 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105 ( % of the residue of my estate) or (the sum of $ ), to be used where the need is greatest.

A deferred charitable gift annuity is an excellent tool to insure enough income during retirement. See the article on page 3 for detailed information.

Now is a better time than any other time to set up a charitable lead annuity trust. Because of the historically low interest rates, you can leverage the remainder interest that goes to family. Another strategy to maximize the remainder to family, would be funding the trust with assets that you expect to increase in value. The family would reap the benefit of any gains later realized. For more information on this and other complex estate planning options, consult an attorney experienced in charitable estate planning.

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Even with the downturn in the economy and your concerns about retirement, now is still a good time to consider including charity in your planning. In fact, some charitable giving strategies may offer you higher returns than conventional banking products right now. Below I’ve outlined a number of tools, ranging from very simple to complex, for you to consider.

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