Cy Pres

Cy pres (from an old French phrase meaning "as near as possible") is a doctrine rooted in the idea that a donor's charitable intent should be honored even when circumstances make the original plan impossible. If a testator left funds to eradicate a disease that is subsequently eradicated, or to support an institution that no longer exists, a court may invoke cy pres to redirect the gift to a sufficiently similar purpose rather than returning assets to the donor's estate.

For wealthy families making large charitable gifts, particularly through trusts or bequests intended to fund specific institutions or causes, cy pres is a reminder that charitable structures should be drafted with flexibility in mind. A gift document that narrowly specifies a single recipient with no successor language can become a legal puzzle if that recipient dissolves or changes its mission substantially.

A hypothetical donor leaves an illustrative $10 million bequest to fund a specific university's oceanography department. Decades later, the university closes that department entirely. A court applying cy pres might redirect the funds to a comparable oceanographic research program at another institution, guided by evidence of what the donor valued.

A common confusion is believing cy pres applies automatically or quickly. In practice, it often requires litigation and can take years to resolve. Donors are frequently advised to include "gift-over" provisions naming alternative recipients, reducing the likelihood that courts need to intervene. A qualified estate planning attorney should review all major charitable gift documents with this contingency in mind.