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  • 1.  Estate of Brother

    Posted 05-29-2025 10:25 AM

    Hi,

    We have a donor who wrote one check with multiple designations. One designation "from the Estate of my brother" to pay towards the brothers bequest. However, he gave the money through a personal check. What is the best way to proceed? Am I wrong in thinking that since the brother wrote the check he should be the hard credit donor?



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    Danielle Muller
    Union College
    mullerd@union.edu
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  • 2.  RE: Estate of Brother

    Posted 05-29-2025 10:32 AM
    You might be wrong. Often, when family members settle an estate, they make life "easy" on themselves and deposit the assets into a personal account rather than open an account for the estate.

    You need to ask the brother for a copy of the will or the page reflecting the specific bequest. With that, you can trust that the brother was serving in an agent capacity and can record the gift on the deceased's record. I'd create an alias name on that record for "Estate of So-and-So" so that the receipt reflects that. But if this is a one-time payment, there's no need to create a new record for the estate,

    John

    John H. Taylor, Principal
    John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
    2604 Sevier Street
    Durham, NC     27705

    919.816.5903 (cell/text)

    Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987