Learn About Wills and Bequests


What are the benefits of making a bequest?

  1. You leave a lasting legacy to be remembered
  2. You lessen the burden of taxes on your family
  3. You may receive estate tax savings

How can I learn more?


How do I make a bequest?

A bequest is one of the easiest gifts to make. With the help of an advisor, you can include language in your will or trust specifying a gift be made to family, friends or Occidental College as part of your estate plan.


What are my options?

A bequest can be made in several ways:
  1. You can gift a specific dollar amount or asset
  2. You can gift a percentage of your estate
  3. You can gift from the balance or residue of your estate
  4. You can make a beneficiary designation of certain assets

How do I get started?


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"Members of the Oxy community who support Oxy through their estate plans have provided us with an incredibly distinctive gift-an infinite investment in the College. We are grateful to these generous donors whose forethought will allow Oxy to deliver our exceptional liberal arts education to generation upon generation of talented students."

- President Harry J. Elam, Jr.

"Oxy showed me that the path to one's goals need not be linear or conventional. I learned how to think, to write, to create; to trust my instincts and pursue my interests with passion and a standard of excellence. Not a day has passed that I have not been rewarded in some way by my Occidental education."

- Michael J. Fields '70

Michael and his wife Pamela recently documented an estate gift to support the Obama Scholars Program and the EdgertonOccidental Merit Scholarship.