Inheritances and legacies
As a private not-for-profit organisation, the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation receives no government aid for the services it provides to paraplegics. The Swiss Paraplegic Foundation is therefore dependent upon private donations. In general, there are two different means for making a bequest: inheritances and legacies.
When creating your will, you must take all statutory requirements into consideration. Your will must specify the people who are legally entitled to your inheritance, and the minimum amount that you must leave them (legal share). The remaining, or “unused share”, can be left as an inheritance or a legacy.
How do I make the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation an heir?
If you are interested in transferring your inheritance or naming the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation as a joint, partial or full heir, then you should indicate this in your will. If you declare all or part of your unused share as inheritance, then the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation will be included in your will as an heir.
How do I leave the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation a legacy?
To leave us a legacy, you will attribute all or part of your unused share to the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation. A legacy is similar to an inheritance, but in this case the Foundation is not defined as an heir. The amount of the legacy may not exceed the legal share of the legally-determined heirs. In general, the heirs are responsible for the payment or transfer of the legacy to the beneficiaries.
What are the advantages of donation funds and what is the structure like for the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation?
You will find information here about how you can use your estate exactly as you imagine by means of donation funds.
What does the memorial wall mean?
We would like to use the memorial wall to “say thank you” to the many people who have left us money in their wills. Their donations and generosity achieve something unique by helping us to keep our promise to people living with a spinal cord injury: “We support people with spinal cord injuries. Throughout their lives.” To demonstrate our appreciation, we would like to provide a special place on the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation campus for all donors we were unable to thank during their lives.
Visualisation of memorial wall
The memorial wall was unveiled in Not-twil on 4 April 2019. It is made up of 6669 small mirrored metal plaques that have been hung individually and are engraved with the donor's name. They move gently in the wind. The individual names of donors come together in a whole and reflect the overriding solidari-ty of the donors with people living with a spinal cord injury.
Thank you very much for your assistance!
Many patients with spinal cord injuries apply for direct aid from the Foundation. Even something as simple as the reconstruction of a patient’s vehicle or kitchen cupboards can go a long way in improving the quality of the patient’s life.
Support the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation with a legacy or donate part of your inheritance.
By doing so, you’ll contribute to the rehabilitation of people living with spinal cord injury. Your gift will offer hope to patients, and help us maintain our commitment to continually meet the needs of para- and tetraplegics, and develop a network of services which our patients can benefit from for the rest of their lives.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Enquiries and contact
Become a member and receive CHF 250,000 in the event of an emergency.
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