This story appears in the May 15, 2017 issue of Forbes. Subscribe
Estate lawyer Peter Chadwick recalls the day Ted Stanley told him he wanted to make charitable arrangements for his stunning 7,000-square-foot, hemicycle-shaped home in New Canaan, Connecticut. "Knowing it was a Frank Lloyd Wright [designed] house, and forgetting for a few minutes who I was dealing with, I asked him, 'Do you want it to be an historic-house museum?'"
Nope, Stanley responded. After his death, he wanted the house sold and the proceeds used, like the rest of his assets, to fund mental illness research. So Chadwick put together papers giving the house to the Stanley Family Foundation but allowing Ted and his wife, Vada, to live in it for the rest of their lives.
The usual appeal of this "life estate" giving technique is that you get a current charitable income tax deduction, even as you continue to live in the house. The Stanleys, for their part, probably already had more charity deductions than they could use but "derived personal satisfaction knowing [the future of the house] was wrapped up,'' Chadwick says.
Take A Peek Inside Frank Lloyd Wright's Tirranna.
For the full story on the Stanley family's outsized commitment to advance mental health research, see Child Of The Pledge: When Your Job Is To Give Away Your Parents' Fortune.
For three ways Haverford College reeled in gifts of real estate, see Giving Your House To Charity.
