Couple learns how to put their assets where their hearts are
Fifteen years ago, Albuquerque art lovers Virginia and Ed Fultz decided to leave their entire estate to their local museum. Their house, car, investment portfolio and their considerable art collection is worth a few million, give or take.
“If we’d had children, they would have been our priority,” Virginia told me recently, when I called her and Ed to talk about their gift. “But that didn’t happen, so we went in a different direction.”
They put their money where their hearts are.
Ed and Virginia met as teenagers while attending West Texas State College. They married during their junior year, 55 years ago. After college, they taught high school in El Paso for 10 years and made the most of their summers off by traveling.
“We didn’t grow up in homes with art,” Virginia said. “What we knew of art, we’d learned from books.”
That changed during the summer of 1968. Over three months, they visited every country in Western Europe. “We did the Europe-on-$5-a-day plan because it fit our teacher budget.”
And they hit every major museum.
“That first trip to Europe was so eye-opening,” Ed said.
“It was like this grand feast,” Virginia added.
On their first visit to the Louvre in Paris, she recalled, “we could barely afford lunch there.”
“Then the waiter brought this lovely hors d’oeuvres tray and two glasses of wine that we couldn’t afford. We saw this nicely dressed gentleman sitting nearby and knew it was from him.”
Art patrons are a generous bunch. Virginia and
Ed are paying those moments forward.
Ed left teaching and took a management job with a trucking company and in 1981 was transferred to Albuquerque, a city he and his wife loved for its art and culture. Because no teaching positions were available, Virginia began selling real estate. And they continued to travel and buy art, pieces from other countries and many from their native Southwest.
Though the Albuquerque Museum has first dibs, “if they say they don’t want anything, we will not be offended,” Virginia said. “We’ve gotten our enjoyment.”
Meanwhile, they continue to appreciate their local museum’s collection.
“We often go and spend a couple hours there, have lunch and a glass of wine at the café and talk about art,” Virginia said. “Every time I go, it thrills me to know they will benefit from us someday. They’ve given us so much more than we’ll ever give them.”
To prepare their art collection for the ultimate handoff, when items will either go to a museum or be sold for cash, the Fultzes keep an art file, with a folder for each piece with information about the artist and the artwork, and the story behind how they got it.
“The problem is we have to quit collecting,” Virginia said. “Truly, we are not allowed to go to an art show for a year.”
“We’re going to one next week,” Ed said.
Deciding to leave your estate to a cause you love is step one. The next challenge, the Fultzes found, becomes how. Here’s what they learned:
NAME THE RIGHT ENTITY >> In 2005, the Fultzes named the Albuquerque Museum as their beneficiary, but last year, they met Emily Blaugrund Fox, executive director for the museum foundation, and learned they should name the Albuquerque Museum Foundation as beneficiary. Otherwise the city, which owns the museum, controls the donations. The foundation is set up solely to support the museum. Ed updated his will accordingly.
DON’T DO IT ALONE >> Work with an attorney to make sure your will conveys what you intend and is valid under your state’s law. An attorney also can make sure your will spells out exactly what you want to leave and to whom, lists all assets and names the executor. After considering asking a relative or friend to play that role, the Fultzes finally hired a trust company. For a percentage of the estate, the company will handle the sale of the art and other assets and disburse the proceeds.
BE SPECIFIC >> Make clear how you want your gift to be used. The Fultzes earmarked their donation for art acquisitions. “Others may designate funds to support exhibitions, capital improvement or education,” Fox said, “but don’t restrict the gift too much.”
Tell the recipient. Do let whomever you’re leaving an asset to know you’ve named them in your will, Fox said. Be sure they want it. “We may not want grandma’s hanky collection, cherished as it is,” she said. Syndicated columnist Marni Jameson is the author of five home and lifestyle books, including “Downsizing the Family Home What to Save, What to Let Go” and “Downsizing the Blended Home — When Two Households Become One” (Sterling Publishing, 2019). You may reach her at marnijameson.com.