Note:
This occurred in a non-Texas state so we can only speak generally about the
concepts, nothing even remotely substantive about the other jurisdiction’s
laws. Clearly he was not one of our clients, just to point that out as well.
You may have heard about Silas Marner-like
long-serving University of New Hampshire (UNH) librarian Robert Morin’s passing
and the large (approximately $4,000,000) charitable gift he left to his Alma mater and former employer. The substantiality of the gift surprised a lot of
people. He had no family members he felt were suitable to leave money to – like
many Americans he felt his best option was a charitable gift then. He had
amassed this surprising sum of money from living extremely frugally and saving
everything he could. He never “went out,” he ate microwave dinners at home, and
drove a modest 1992 car. It was a life of quiet sacrifices and missed
opportunities in favor of socking away more money; not because librarians are
paid as well as professional football players.
We can generalize a few things from these facts
related by his financial advisor. Robert Morin worked for 50 years in the
library and probably had some good memories there. Robert Morin saved every
penny he could to maximize the amount (hence the power) of the final gift he could
leave behind to honor his life and memory. Robert Morin, likely through his
financial advisor, was at least somewhat familiar with the concept of estate
planning. His financial advisor has been quoted in the USA Today as saying of
Morin, “His whole life was the library.”
So how then does this college educated, well
heeled millionaire, and somewhat savvy consumer of legal services make such a
bad gift? Out of approximately $4,000,000 only $100,000 (approximately 1/40th)
was restricted for use in the library – the remaining 39/40ths of $4 million
was an unrestricted gift meaning the university could basically use it for
pretty much anything they wanted. And what did they want? For starters, a $1
million brand new scoreboard for the football team. Which obviously has nothing
to do with the library – or other topics du
jour affecting university campuses such as the spiraling debt load as well
as all of the social justice issues.
One twitter commenter had an apt observation
for UNH: “Do you want people to stop donating to your school? Because this is
exactly how you stop donations.” The point being a very insulting use of
donations – taking money from the library and improvements around campus that
will actually help students obtain education and future employment
opportunities (or at least help defray a small portion of spiraling student
debt loads) in favor of another expensive trinket for the sportsball team.
While we would like to think Robert Morin’s
ghost is standing in the UNH quad ringing the Game of Thrones “shame” bell for
eternity, we have no idea what he really wanted with his gift. We just know how
this sits with us – it doesn’t sit right. And we have a past history of
carefully drafting Will provisions to make sure that universities (and other
entities we would have a concern about) can’t do things like this contrary to
the vision, spirit, and life of the client that accumulated the wealth and
wanted to make a nice charitable gift of it to further support the legacy of
the vision, spirit, and life they left behind.
An important part of estate planning is
discussing the desires you have and the outcomes you are trying to achieve with
your comprehensive estate plan. In Texas this would have been a more serious
conversation about why this was such a bad gift – and how American
universities, which have plenty of their own public relations problems right
now related to financial mismanagement, diversity, inclusion, safe spaces, university
administrations protecting football players from rape allegations made by
non-football players, and more – have their own ideas about how every unrestricted
gift coming in to their coffers should be earmarked for the sportsball team
rather to actually assist students in any conceivable way such as research
grants, student meal plans, scholarships for students, or literally anything
besides an inconsequential trinket for an already highly funded and well
protected by administration athletic department.
In Texas a serious discussion with the client
about the unintended consequences could have saved this gift and aligned it
more with what we think Robert Morin would have had in mind for his life’s
frugality and lost opportunities to simply acquire money so he could make what
was a powerful gift in his mind. In Texas careful drafting of the Will
provision could have saved this gift. In Texas we need more libraries. In Texas
we need more diversity, inclusion, safe spaces, and initiatives to keep college
affordable and manageable for everyone.
If you need help making an appropriate
charitable gift that will be used for important things on college campuses
(like libraries) give us a call and let’s help you make the right kind of gift,
rather than you accidentally subsidizing the football team.
Frye, Oaks, Benavidez & O’Neil, PLLC: over
105 years of Texas legal experience now under one roof.
713-227-1717
No comments:
Post a Comment