Last Will & Testament

[CantBCoy]

An elderly gentlemen dies and as a part of his last will & testament he makes a final donation to his parish church. This happens in every community and in every church it seems, but the COGOP's I've pastored or been a member. Is it just a fluke that I happen to be at all the local churches that people don't want to give to? Or is it part of a larger problem our church faces?

It seems to me that we are missing something that other churches have in regards to this issue. Just thought I'd throw the net out there and see what happens.

Joel

[turbotim]

I never really thought about it. I don't think I'll have anything to give. LOL.....

[jinjer]

We are no longer part of COGOP, we have made provisions in our will for our church. Since we have no children, and all of my family is deceased, we will leave some to Jeffery's dad, should he be alive, a portion to 3 of my dearest friends and the rest to the church. Should Jeffery's dad be deceased when we pass, his portion will go to the church. We have always felt it important to do this. My parents did not specifically leave any to their church, but my dad did give something special when my mother died and we gave when my dad died. We also put their local church as their memorial giving for others.

I suspect that COGOP's tend to not have this occurrence perhaps because of the continuous moving of pastors. I know that I have always felt as though I wouldn't know who was coming to pastor and I would be unsure of the outcome for the local church body. I have had bad experiences with pastors sent to my COGOP local church. It seemed there was no regard for the members or how to truly help and grow the local church. It was just a spot to fill.

Just my .02 worth.

Jinjer

[dolfan]

I can only speculate here. A lot of the churches in COGOP are rural and small groups of people who have modest assets. Most people are inclined to think of family first. Seems to me that COGOP has/had a program or plan of some kind for leaving part of your estate to it. But, with all of the other challenges in local churches, my guess is it rarely gets mentioned locally.

There are ways to leave charitable gifts over the course of years as you approach the years where your life expectancy starts to roll around, ways that can reduce tax liability for your estate if it's large enough to even worry about estate taxes. Most people with those kinds of assets seek financial planning advice and know about these tools and use them. For others who are just good backbone middle class income earners who've been smart with their money, an estate planning attorney can be money well spent to most efficiently help direct any giving you plan to do with your estate.

If you need a qualified attorney in your state, I suggest visiting www.findlaw.com .

[Pastor Bill]

Probably won't have much of an estate to worry about, and that will go to the kids. This most often happens with Ecclesiasitcal churches (Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, etc) and is not as common with evangelicals. Don't know why, but I guess it also depends on how much money your talking about being left, and children.

Also the fact that traditionally especially in rural areas, the most forthought many give to death is "getting right with God", just let the family fight over what's left. Poor take on it I know, but that seems to be what's happened.

Part of that may also be due to the fact that larger closer families seem to be part of the culture in the south.

[Dr. Ron]

Back in the 80s and 90s, the church did implement this program. Bill Gillum, brother of Perry, and David Green of Hobby Lobby, made a strong effort to get this information out and a full set of paperwork was, and may still be available, for setting up endowments and the like. Many people in those days left endowments to TC. I guess they are all gone now. I have helped administrate some of those.
'
That issue went the same path as SEL. It was hot for a while and then died a quiet death due to the fact that most pastors have little to nothing when they die and they really got upset that someone would leave money to the general organization when the local church could use it for a greater good.

I don't know what happened to it. I do know that a similar problem as the church faced with OW was at the core of it.

[free]

Sister Jan Couch promotes this heavily in seminars/retreats/etc that she does. It's still foreign to most of our people but some are beginning to "get it". I'm getting information to present to our local church about this very issue. I know of several in the congregation who have already set this up in their wills.

I think it's a great legacy to leave.

[Paully_44]

In the past with some denominations, this could have been instituted with the whole penance theory... buying your way out of pergatory and more quickly into heaven.

In my pea brain, I prioritize things, God then Family and then Church.
When I die, I will leave everything to my family.

[jinjer]

Also, when someone leaves a donation to a parish, St. Mark's in City,State, for an example, that money stays at that local parish. Some in COGOP may feel that because of the past financial systems, that there donation would go to the state and general levels and not all remain at the local level. Just a thought!

Jinjer

[Pastor Bill]

Jinjer is right, but legally how ever it is specified it has to be used as such. This has put some churches in a bad situation, I know of one small Methodist church that has a large sum of money that was left, with very specific instructions, and they have been through times that they were close to closing the doors, and couldn't use that money.

If you do this and want it to stay with the local church, it can be written up that way, just leave a loophole in case that church is disbanded or something on what to do.