Are you under the impression that it takes tremendous wealth to establish an endowed fund in your name? In reality, that’s not the case. You can leverage your individual retirement account (IRA) assets to create your legacy at William Mitchell—a strategic financial move that allows you to maintain your current standard of living, preserve inheritable assets, and provide opportunities for future law students.
In a nutshell, charitable gifts from an IRA are nontaxable. The assets can be transferred directly from your IRA to an endowed fund after your lifetime. Currently, when an estate is large enough to be taxed, children who inherit an IRA pay both income tax and estate tax. A charitable gift eliminates that double taxation.
After growing up on a Minnesota farm, getting a college degree in chemistry, and serving in the U.S. Navy, Paul Welter went to work teaching in the Honeywell sales school. Shortly thereafter he was persuaded by a buddy studying at William Mitchell to enroll here at night. Paul graduated in 1964, and in 1965 he married Phyllis and joined the law firm of Merchant & Gould, where he found the vocation he loved. He spent 40 years there, eventually serving as president, member of the board of directors, and managing director.
Paul was regularly listed in Best Lawyers in America for his work as an intellectual property lawyer and was dubbed a “Super Lawyer” in the Minnesota Journal of Law and Politics. He built a reputation among colleagues, clients and the legal community for unwavering integrity and was active in community organizations, including the United Way and the Legal Aid Society.
Merchant & Gould also continues to honor Paul’s memory through the Paul A. Welter Award for Excellence in Trademark Law. Beginning in 2007, William Mitchell will co-sponsor the award that will honor outstanding in-house trademark counsel at a corporation.
» Nominate an attorney for the Paul A. Welter Award on Merchant & Gould's Web site.
Phyllis, who had an M.B.A. when they married and worked in the consumer survey department at General Mills, took time off to raise their two children. Once the younger child was in first grade, Phyllis, too, decided to attend William Mitchell at night. As she jokes, “I had to go to law school. It was the only way I could keep up with Paul!” Phyllis also became fascinated with trademark law and eventually started her own company, Survey Counsel, Inc.
In addition to shared professional interests, Paul and Phyllis kept things in balance with family time at their cabin and travel. Their last years together were shadowed by Paul’s struggle with cancer, but a highlight of his life during that difficult time was the invitation to join the board of trustees of William Mitchell, which Phyllis said “kept him going.”
After making a generous gift to the Capital Campaign, Paul and Phyllis decided to set up an IRA gift. They did the paperwork in 2004 while Paul was still alive. Initially, their intention was to make a deferred gift from their estate, with proceeds going to the endowed scholarship. But after Paul passed away, some months after their 40th wedding anniversary, Phyllis decided she did not want to defer the gift. She rolled over Paul’s IRA into her name and made the gift immediately.
“There’s a certain satisfaction to doing it now and honoring him,” Phyllis says. “But the credit goes to Paul. It was his idea to establish the scholarship. He had to work and could not have gone to law school if it hadn’t been for William Mitchell. Although I needed to attend school at night, too, our gift resulted from his passion for William Mitchell and my passion for him.”