Wills

Do you need to make a will?

Making a will has never been easier – and never been more important. If you haven’t already made a will, here is a free online tool that will help you make a will in less than 20 minutes

Do you wish to amend your will?

You can easily work with your attorney to add amfAR as a beneficiary of your estate using the sample language provided below. Please email us for more information.

Sample Will Language

When making or amending your will, a detailed designation using the following language is preferred:

amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, EIN 13-3163817, a not-for-profit tax-exempt organization incorporated under the laws of the State of New York, having as its principal address 120 Wall Street, 13^th Floor, New York, NY  10005-3908.

If you have already named amfAR in your estate plans, please let us know by emailing us.

Living Trust

Retain control of your assets placed in a living trust during your lifetime, and direct who you will transfer these assets to upon your death. Assets may include investments, bank accounts, real estate, vehicles, or other valuable assets.

Beneficiary Designations

Many estate assets are not transferred through a will. You can name amfAR as a beneficiary of your estate assets such as a living trust, qualified retirement plan, or the proceeds from a life insurance policy.

Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) from IRAs

If you are 70.5 or older, you can donate directly to amfAR from a traditional IRA through a QCD. In addition, if you are age 73 or older, you must receive a Required Minimum Distribution from your IRA each year, which is taxable. If you don’t, there is a 25% tax penalty. In addition, if you withdraw those funds personally and then make a charitable donation, you will have to pay 37% federal income tax on those funds. But if you donate to amfAR directly from your IRA, the donation will count towards your required minimum distribution, you will avoid the federal income tax on those funds, and you will be able to take the full amount of your charitable donation as a tax deduction.

Life Insurance Policy

A simple and commonly used way to advance critical HIV research and gain tax advantages is to designate amfAR as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy. For individual life policies, you may irrevocably name amfAR as owner and beneficiary of a long-standing life insurance policy, or you may retain ownership and name amfAR as the beneficiary. If you are employed, you may be receiving group term life insurance as an employee benefit. If so, amfAR can be named as a beneficiary of the entire policy.

Charitable Remainder Trust

Make a gift to amfAR that pays income to you or others for your lifetime or for a specified term. You choose the percentage payout you wish to receive. When your trust terminates, amfAR receives the remaining principal. Many types of assets can be used to fund charitable remainder trusts including cash; appreciated securities, real estate, or collectibles; life insurance policies you plan to sell; and municipal bonds.

There are two types of charitable remainder trusts: Charitable remainder annuity trusts provide you with a set dollar amount each year, equal to your chosen percentage of the trust’s original fair-market value. Charitable remainder unitrusts provide you with a variable amount each year, equal to your chosen percentage of the changing yearly value of the trust. Over time, a unitrust may provide some hedge against inflation.