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Beth K. McNally
CharitablePlanning.com Author
Biography
Beth McNally has been active in trust/estate and guardianship administration for 35 years. She currently owns McNally Fiduciary Support LLC and assists fiduciaries with their court filings and administrative responsibilities. In addition, she is a non-profit consultant specializing in bequest administration. Prior to opening MFS, she served as Estate Administrator for The Nature Conservancy (2001-2012), managing over 8,000 estates, including many in litigation. Before joining the Conservancy, she spent 21 years in the legal field, including managing the trust/estate departments of several Washington DC area law firms. Beth received her B.A. from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN.
Beyond Basic Bequest Administration (AKA: Bequests Gone Bad)-
Matured bequest administration is often the "orphan" of planned giving in that little attention or help is provided to planned giving staff regarding how to effectively collect these gifts. Despite the fact that deceased donor gifts are the culmination of a planned giving program, many thousands of bequest dollars remain uncollected or are collected at an unacceptably slow rate. This article provides those charged with the collection of matured donor gifts some highly practical tips and techniques (that do not necessarily require the hiring of an attorney) for collecting what is due their organization. It includes what to ask for and when, what to do if your request is ignored, how to spot problems on accounting and tax returns (including avoiding income taxes, and effectively collecting IRAs/life insurance/POD accounts), how to (politely) decline a request to return your bequest, and when to join in/sit out litigation with or without an attorney. Samples of suggested letters, tax code citations, tax and probate forms are included.