Planned Giving - Retirement Assets & Life Insurance

Retirement assets or life insurance

Make a gift to Lumen Christi and/or Highland Catholic through a beneficiary designation on your retirement account or life insurance policy. 

Naming the parish or school as a beneficiary of your retirement account or life insurance is a simple and tax-advantaged way to support our community.

As with any gift to our community, you may direct your gift specifically to the parish or school. Alternatively, you may also make your gift unrestricted, allowing the parish to direct your gift to the area of greatest need at the time.

Retirement account

Benefits

• If transferred to heirs, assets in tax-deferred retirement accounts—401(k)s, 403(b)s, IRAs, etc.—are subject to income tax and possibly estate tax. If left to the parish, these assets will pass free of tax. For this reason, you may want to consider leaving these assets to the parish and providing for your heirs using assets that are not subject to income tax.

• You can designate the parish to receive a percentage or all of the remaining assets in the account.

• You maintain control over these assets during your lifetime and can change the beneficiaries at any time.

Life insurance

Naming the parish and/or school as a beneficiary of your life insurance policy is a simple way to make a charitable gift to Lumen Christi and Highland Catholic School. Gifts of any size benefit our mission to be the light of Christ in the world.

Benefits

• Control: You maintain control over the policy during your lifetime, and can change the beneficiaries at any time.

• Flexibility: You can designate the parish to receive some or all of the proceeds of any life insurance policy.

• Simplicity: Proceeds are not subject to probate and are distributed immediately to beneficiaries.

• Estate tax reduction: Gifts to the parish are not subject to estate tax.

Making your gift

To make an estate gift using retirement assets or life insurance, simply designate the "The Church of Lumen Christi" as a beneficiary of your account or policy. Each company has its own forms and requirements to designate or change a beneficiary. Please contact your plan administrator or insurance company to request the appropriate forms.

To designate a gift to any area of the parish and/or school, please use the following information when completing the beneficiary designation form:

Legal Name: The Church of Lumen Christi

Address: 2055 Bohland Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55116

Lumen Christi Federal Tax ID Number: 04-3802322

Notify your beneficiaries

Many financial institutions do not inform beneficiaries of gifts after the owner has passed away. Informing your beneficiaries of your plans ensures that your gifts will go to the people and organizations you have named. It’s also important to tell your charitable beneficiaries how you want your gift to be used.

Let Lumen Christi know about your gift

If you’ve already named Lumen Christi and/or Highland Catholic as a beneficiary of your retirement account or life insurance, thank you! We encourage you to tell us about your gift by completing our Estate Gift Form. This document does not create a binding commitment. Any information you provide about your gift will be kept confidential. By sharing your gift, you ensure that the parish understands how you’d like your gift to be used. 

Inspire others

All donors who make estate or other planned gifts to the Lumen Christi and Highland Catholic School are welcomed into the Circle of Light Heritage Society, a community of forward-thinking donors who have chosen to invest in our parish and school’s future and create a lasting legacy of support for families, students, and parishioners for years to come. You can share your gift with us and remain anonymous if you choose.

DISCLAIMER

Information on this website is not intended as legal or tax advice. For information on how any gift may affect your tax situation, please consult with your own professional advisor.