Building a legacy with Habitat for Humanity

Step 1: Understand How It Works
A T-CRUT is created through your will or living trust and only takes effect after your lifetime. It provides income to a person (such as a spouse or child) for a certain number of years or for their lifetime. Once that term ends, whatever remains in the trust could go to Habitat.

Step 2: Choose Your Beneficiaries
Decide who will receive income from the trust before the charity gets the remainder. This could be a spouse, children, or another loved one. You can choose a fixed number of years (up to 20) or allow them to receive income for their lifetime.

Step 3: Select a Charity
Pick a charity, like Habitat, that will receive the remainder of the trust assets once your beneficiaries’ payments end.

Step 4: Work with an Attorney
Since setting up a T-CRUT involves legal and tax complexities, work with an estate planning attorney to draft the necessary documents. They will ensure your will or trust includes the right language to create the T-CRUT after your lifetime.

Step 5: Choose a Trustee
The trustee manages the trust, ensures beneficiaries receive payments, and oversees the eventual transfer to the charity. You can choose an individual (like a trusted family member) or a corporate trustee (like a bank or financial institution).

Step 6: Decide What Assets to Fund the Trust With
A T-CRUT is usually funded with assets from your estate, such as:

• Retirement accounts (like an IRA). Using retirement accounts can be tax-efficient since charities don’t pay income tax when they receive the remainder.
• Cash
• Stocks
• Real estate

Step 7: Outline Distribution Terms
You must decide how much income your beneficiaries will receive. A T-CRUT must pay at least 5% of the trust’s value per year to the beneficiaries, but no more than 50%. The payout is typically a percentage of the trust’s value, which is recalculated each year.

Step 8: Keep Your Plan Updated
Life circumstances change, so review your estate plan periodically to ensure it still aligns with your wishes. You may need to update your will, trust, or charity selections over time.

Why Set Up a Testamentary CRUT?

• Provides for loved ones with steady income after your passing.
• Reduces estate taxes by directing assets to charity.
• Supports a cause you care about long-term.
• Maximizes tax benefits, especially for retirement accounts.

Final Thoughts
A Testamentary Charitable Remainder Uni-Trust is a powerful tool for leaving a legacy that benefits both your loved ones and a charitable cause, like Habitat. By working with an estate planning professional, you can ensure your wishes are carried out smoothly while maximizing tax advantages.

You can explore more ways to make an impact with Habitat on our website.

“Residents are at the table. They are not an afterthought. They play a major part in making decisions and finding solutions.”

— Carolyn Valli, Central Berkshire Habitat’s CEO

The Habitat-led coalition of residents and local partners have come together to:

• Create a workforce development program that trains future homebuilders.
• Build more affordable, decent homes and encourage other affordable home developers to invest and build in the neighborhood.
• Improve public safety by expanding the hours that social workers are on call to support police calls.
• Develop new parks and improve existing parks.
• Advocate successfully for new, safe sidewalks.
• Create murals that reflect the residents’ vision for the future of their community.

Connecting residents to resources

After hearing from residents that community members struggle to connect with local services, Central Berkshire Habitat hired two community navigators, local people with lived experience and cultural responsiveness who can help residents understand and navigate complex systems to reduce barriers to access. Community navigators and residents partnered to find affordable housing options and access food assistance and mental health resources.

Central Berkshire Habitat built on the immediate success of the model and hired additional community navigators. Now, six full-time community navigators speaking three languages — English, French and Spanish — partner with Westside residents as they navigate complex systems and access critical services.

“A lot of community members gave up trying to search for resources or seek out help because they felt they were fighting against a wall,” says Tonya Frazier, Central Berkshire Habitat’s lead community navigator.

“We’ve seen a complete shift from people feeling very shut off to people asking for help and searching for resources.”

— Tonya Frazier, Central Berkshire Habitat’s lead community navigator

Habitat’s community navigator model has spread throughout Pittsfield, with more than 40 agencies and local organizations employing their own versions of community navigators.

Strengthening the community through resident-led revitalization

Residents are encouraged by the progress they’ve seen in the neighborhood and the way the community has rallied together to improve the quality of life in Westside. “It makes me shed happy tears to see the change that Habitat and the residents have brought to this community,” says Tonya, who lives in Westside with her husband and children. “It gives you an extra bounce in your step to be in the Westside.”

“It makes me shed happy tears to see the change that Habitat and the residents have brought to this community.”

— Tonya Frazier, Central Berkshire Habitat’s lead community navigator

In Westside and communities across the U.S., Habitat affiliates are partnering with residents to implement neighborhood revitalization projects and inspire lasting community-wide change. “We’re considered community developers now,” Carolyn says. “At the end of the day, that’s the legacy we want to have. It’s about how we have helped change the entire community based on what the community wants.”

Visit our website to learn more about your impact with Habitat.