Leave a Legacy

Make this life and the next meaningful

T.Y.S. Lama Gangchen
A bequest to the Foundation is a way to ensure that your positive actions continue after your life.

The Fondazione Lama Gangchen per una Cultura di pace (Lama Gangchen Foundation for a Culture of Peace) preserves the assets of Kunpen Lama Gangchen. It takes care of the operations, maintenance and development of all its structures such as the Temple, the centres and all the spaces used for the various activities.
Leaving a legacy to the Foundation means contributing to its goals and hence to the flourishing of Western Buddhism and a culture of peace, according to the teachings of Lama Gangchen.
Generosity towards a beneficial activity brings a great accumulation of merits and will help you in this life as well as the next.

Why make a Will?

A Will allows us to choose – while alive – to whom we wish to leave our assets and belongings after death. It is the document that best helps those left behind to respect our wishes and guarantees that our assets are disposed of for the purposes that we most value. Defining our wishes before we die, gives us tranquillity and peace of mind that we did whatever was possible.

What can be left to the Foundation

• A sum of money (that can be destined to a specific project of the Foundation), stocks, shares, post office bonds, investment funds or severance pay;
• Goods such as works of art, jewellery, furnishings;
• Real estate such as apartments, land, buildings etc.
• Life insurance policies: these are not part of the hereditary estate; the insured person can decide who will be the beneficiary of the policy without any restriction. The holder of a policy can express their wishes at any time by giving notice to the issuing agency so that it can be included in the policy or in a will. (To avoid complications it would be better if those nominating the Foundation as the beneficiary of their life insurance policy would either inform the Foundation or send a copy of the policy itself.)

A bequest in favour of the Foundation

To leave assets to the Foundation after your death, indicate the beneficiary:

Fondazione Lama Gangchen per una Cultura di Pace
via Marco Polo n. 13,
20124 Milano – Italy
C.F.: 97363850153

If so wished, the Foundation can organise – on your behalf – funeral rites, according to our Buddhist tradition, and prayers can be dedicated every day in the centre in remembrance.
It is recommended that you inform the Foundation if you decide to mention it in your will.

DONATIONS IN MEMORY OF A LOVED ONE

A donation represents the possibility to generate positive energy in memory of a loved one. A donation to the Foundation can be aimed at a specific purpose – a project of choice – or destined for the most urgent activities.
The Foundation will inform you of the use of the sum received and will send a letter to the family of the person remembered, to share the generous gesture.
For further information or clarification please contact us:

Email: legale@kunpen.it
Phone: +39 0323 569601
Mobile: +39 328 3687246

Thank you!

It is important that you follow the laws in your own country regarding the writing of a will.

In Italy
The act of writing a Will is not complex and requires only that you comply with certain guidelines provided by law. A will allows you to identify, within the law, the person or people who after your death take over all your rights. However when making a will, the law obliges us to leave a certain percentage of our patrimony to our so-called “legitimate” heirs, that is our spouse, children or, in the absence of these, our parents. If there are no legitimate heirs you can dispose of your own patrimony as you wish: but, in the absence of a will the inheritance goes to more distant relatives (or, in the absence of relatives, to the state).

A legacy can be indicated in one of the clauses of the will.

The Foundation can be indicated as a simple beneficiary – to whom is destined a sum of money, goods or other – or as a universal heir (it is important to remember that in this case acceptance of the legacy would be with the more complicated procedure of “acceptance with benefit of inventory” in order to first check for any debts that the Foundation would be responsible for).

Please note that according to Italian law, there are three types of wills:

1. Holographic will
This is the simplest, most economic and practical form of will and has the following basic requirements:

• it must be handwritten, dated (dd/mm/yyyy) and signed (name and surname) at the end of your stipulations;
• it is void if written by a computer or written, even in part, by others;
• any changes must be written, dated and signed by hand and placed at the end of the will;
• it must be kept in a safe place or delivered to a trusted person or to a notary.
• the notary only receives and keeps the will. The executor must make public and implement the will once the person who has written it dies.

2. Public will
This is a formal will requiring a particular procedure. The will is drawn up directly by the notary who, once it is written, gives it to the person in the presence of witnesses.
It is then signed by the person, the notary and by witnesses. It is kept by the notary, who is the executor and confirms that the person making the will is of sound mind.

3. Secret will
This kind of will is now practically disused. The content of the will remains unknown even to the notary who merely receives and keeps it. It can be written by computer. It must be dated and signed, placed in a closed envelope and is then sealed directly by the notary who receives it in the presence of two witnesses.

In the UK

If you don’t make a will, your estate will be divided according to the law. This is not necessarily what you would want. To make sure your last wish-es are met it is necessary that you make a Will. In the UK there are three types of gifts you can leave in your Will:

• A share of your estate which is also known as a residuary legacy. This simply means a percentage of your estate after all other gifts and expenses have been paid.
• A specific sum of money also known as a pecuniary legacy.
• A specific item – such as an antique, a valuable painting, a property or shares.

Any legacy you leave to a charity is not included when your estate is valued for Inheritance Tax purposes. The gift is deducted from your estate be-fore Tax is applied.
If you want to leave a legacy to the Foundation, when you write your Will you must state clearly the address and charity number (as above).
If you would like to change a Will that you have already made, it is not necessary to make a new Will. You can add a ‘codicil’ and simply send it to your solicitor. A codicil allows you to make changes or additions to your Will and must be read in together with it.
You can easily find examples and information on writing wills and codicils on the internet: https://www.gov.uk/make-will/overview