Guidelines for Christian Estate Planning Part IV: Biblical Basis for Charitable Giving

on November 2, 2011 · Leave a Comment
3496683322 03cafa2fc0 m Guidelines for Christian Estate Planning Part IV: Biblical Basis for Charitable Giving
by tray

This is the fourth in a seven-part series on estate planning for the Christian.

A Christ-centered Estate Plan does not mean we leave everything to God.  In fact, our first responsibility lies with our family (see previous articles).  But after caring for our family in whatever manner God directs, we then turn to the biblical basis for charitable giving through our Last Will and Testament or Revocable Living Trust.

God Loves People-Centered Ministries

Throughout Scripture, God expresses His concern for the less fortunate of the world—widows, orphans, infirmed, elderly, poor.   The Apostle John gives a stern warning to anyone who knowingly ignores the needy.  He questions whether the love of God abides in that person at all (1 John 3:16-17).  Paul weighs in by saying “as we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).

Consider also the fact that Jesus entered this world and died in our place (John 3:16).   This demonstrates God’s deep concern for people (Romans 5:8).  Where God’s heart lies, so also should our concerns.

These important facts impact the charitable distributions of our Estate Plan. We need to consider a bequest to some organization or individual involved in telling people of Jesus or caring for the needy.  We fail to honor God if we fail to make this a prayerful consideration.  This does not mean that God requires a distribution to a Christian charity.  It means that we at least discuss with Him the possibility.  

God’s People Sustain God’s Work

Galatians 6:6 instructs us to share all “good things” with those who have ministered to us (see also Romans 15:24, 1 Corinthians 9:4, 14).  God even lists the Levites (the Old Testament religious workers) in the same category with the needy like widows, orphans and the homeless (Deuteronomy 14:29; 26:12).  God’s plan calls for His children to support those Christian ministries that have provided spiritual help during one’s life.  This includes a church, radio/television ministry, school, mission organization, etc.  Once again, the actual decision to include charitable distributions or not, and to what extent, needs to be made after prayerful consultation with the Lord.

Don’t Give Caesar What Isn’t His

Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17).  Paul builds on that by adding, “Render, therefore… tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom” (Romans 13:7).  While both taught the believer’s responsibility to pay taxes, neither advocated giving Caesar what was not due Caesar.  Every Christian has the perfect right to avoid paying as much tax as possible (not to be confused with evading taxes).  We do not have an obligation to pay more than the minimum tax required by law.

In the context of estate planning, this comes into play with an estate of significant size to subject it to estate tax (death tax).  An estate large enough to incur tax can benefit from charitable bequests because such contributions avoid taxes.  Since the parameters of estate tax seem to change yearly, check with an Estate Planning professional to determine how your estate fits into current tax law. 

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Other articles in this seven-part series, Guidelines for Christian Estate Planning:

Click here for Part I: The Biblical Basis for Estate Planning.

Click here for Part II:  Biblical Guidelines for Estate Distribution (Article part 1).

Click here for Part III:  Biblical Guidelines for Estate Distribution (Article part 2).

Click here for Part IV:  Biblical Basis for Charitable Giving.

Click here for Part V:  Guidelines for Selecting Charities.

Click here for Part VI:  The Believer and Secular Charities.

Click here for Part VII:  The Believer and the Ethical Will.

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Written by TimothyWise

default Guidelines for Christian Estate Planning Part IV: Biblical Basis for Charitable Giving

Featuring Prof. B. Howard Pearson, BS ’76 In December 2010, Congress passed legislation that determined the gift and estate tax law for 2010-12 ( million exemption, with added flexibility in 2010 for decedent’s estates). If Congress does nothing, the exemption will return to million with an increased tax rate. Will Congress ever pass a more comprehensive approach to estate and gift taxes? If so, what is it likely to be? More importantly, how should one plan estate affairs under these circumstances? Professor Pearson teaches estate planning and will lead this information session on estate planning techniques under the current law and what may change in the future.

Question by just wondering: Estate Planning?
My brother in law recently passed and his wife got a check from his insurance company and its made payable to ‘the estate of xxxx xxxxx’. He did not have his estate planned out nor did he have a will, what are her options?

Any info would be great.

Best answer:

Answer by Edward W
His wife is next of kin and is, by default, the administrator of his estate.

What do you think? Answer below!

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How to Create a Basic Estate Plan?

on October 17, 2011 · 25 Comments

Step1 Have a Will Prepared.

A will allows an individual to transfer his or her property to whomever he or she wants to receive it. The consequence of not having a will is that if you die intestate (without a will) then the state in which you live will determine who will receive your property. Frankly, who wants the state deciding who should receive your property.

Step 2  Have a Power of Attorney Prepared.

A power of attorney is a document that allows an individual to give someone authority to act on his or her behalf who is known as the attorney-in-fact. The power of attorney allows the agent to handle an individual’s financial matters.

The consequence of not having a power of attorney is if a person becomes incapacitated then someone will have to petition (ask) the Court to be appointed as Conservator to handle the incapacitated person’s financial affairs. This procedure is more costly and time consuming. Moreover, the Conservator will be under the supervision of the Court with respect to handling the incapacitated person’s money.

Generally, there are two types of Powers of Attorney. A Durable Power of Attorney is a power of attorney that is effective once it is signed by the principal (the person giving the power of attorney) and continues to be effective even after the principal becomes incapacitated.

Be careful who you give authority to act on your behalf under a Durable Power of Attorney because that individual can transfer your assets with or without your permission.

The second Power of Attorney is known as a Springing Power of Attorney. A Springing Power of Attorney comes into existence when an individual becomes incapacitated. In South Carolina, you need two physicians to make the determination that an individual is incapacitated. One of those physicians must be the attending physician for the incapacitated person. A lawyer will be able to assist you in determining what is required in your particular state for a Springing Power of Attorney.

Step 3 Have a Health Care Power of Attorney Prepared.

A health care power of attorney is a document that allows an individual to appoint someone to act on his or her behalf with respect to health care decisions. The person signing the health care power of attorney generally has three choices to make.

1) Save my life- this option directs the agent to use all measures
necessary to prolong the principal’s life regardless of cost.

2) Let me die-this option directs the agent to make sure that life
sustaining treatment is not provided.

3) You decide-this option directs that the agent make the decision
whether to provide or withhold life sustaining treatment.

Again, a lawyer will be able to help you decide what options are best for you.

The consequence of not having a Health Care Power of Attorney is if a person becomes incapacited then someone must petition (ask) the Court to be appointed as the Guardian. This is more expensive and time consuming. The Guardian would be responsible for making health care decisions for the incapacited person. The Guardian would be under the supervision of the Court.

Step 4 Have a Living Will prepared.

A Living Will is a document that gives direction to your doctor when you are in the dying process. Generally, a doctor must determine that a person is terminal. There are two general choices a person has to make.

1) If you are terminal, then you must decide whether you want nutrition
and hydration or do you want it withheld.

2) If you are in a persistent vegetative state or other permanent
unconsciousness you must decide whether you want nutrition and
hydration or do you want it withheld.

Step 5 Purchase Adequate Life Insurance.

Life insurance is to replace the income of the person who has passed away. There needs to be enough insurance to do the following: bury the deceased person, payoff the mortgage, payoff debts of the deceased person, provide for the children’s eduation and provide the family with enough money to live.

Written by nccu9902

Estate Planning Basics and Estate Planning for 2011. For more information please visit silvertalksmoney.com. In this episode of Silver Talks Money, “How To Die Like A Pro Estate Planning And You,” Jim Silver references the unfortunate demise of NFL quarterback Steve McNair to underscore the importance of estate planning and provide a basic, easy to follow game-plan to get you on your way.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

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6 Powerful Vre(Virtual Real Estate) Business Models You Can Start Building In 2006 Using Google Adsense – Part 2

on September 30, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Okay, it’s now time for the next installment of… “6 POWERFUL VRE(Virtual Real Estate) Business Models You Can Start Building In 2006 Using Google Adsense” series.

By now you should have a good idea of what Virtual Real Estate is and why it’s to your benefit that you start a network of your own VRE sites depending on the model you choose.

In the last installment of this series I covered “Article Directories”.

In this part of the VRE series I’m going to cover “Web Directories” in general and then give you some examples of what they might be and look like.

Sound good?

VRE Model #2. Web Directories.

An “Web Directory” is simply a directory on the World Wide Web that specializes in linking to other web sites and categorizing those links. Web Directory owners will often allow site owners to submit their site for inclusion. Then human editors will review their submission and if accepted, will be added to their database.

The one thing about Web Directories is they are often used as part of a website marketing strategy for being indexed in the major search engines like Yahoo!, Google, MSN to name a few.

The main strategy behind someone submitting there website to a directory is that a new site needs to quickly build inbound links from reputable sources. In doing this they will get a higher ranking within search engine results under there target keywords depending on the PR(popularity ranking) of that directory or inbound link.

That’s the basic run-down of what an Web Directories purpose is and why they make a great VRE business model.

Web Directories can be and target anything you want them to. It’s your directory, so you make the decision as to what it is about.

As your directory grows, so will its traffic.

And if you have targeted affiliate programs strategically placed on your directory along side your Google Adsense code, you could be making a nice, steady income form your directory like many others are right now.

Now… as I said at the beginning of this article I would give you some examples of some Web Directories with Google Adsense so you see for yourself whether or not this is something you want to venture into.

So, with that said, here are 3 directories that I think will give you a good idea of what to expect:

Free Stuff Directory:

All Free Things – http://www.allfreethings.com/

eBook Directory:

Wisdom eBooks – http://www.wisdomebooks.com/

Software Directory:

Software5 – http://www.software5.com/

Now remember, your Online Directory can be about anything you want. Your in control.

These are just some examples of whats out.

Did you happen to see the Google Adsense ads?

BINGO!

Also, pay special attention to where those Google Adsense ads are positioned because this is KEY to getting a good CTR(Click Through Rate) with your Google Adsense ads.

Now, at this point, it’s up to you to make the decision on whether or not this is the type of VRE business model you want to use and start.

I recommend you surf around and see whats out there with your interests in mind. By doing that you will be able to get some good idea’s as to what to expect and more importantly, model your directory and/or VRE sites from.

Well, that’s it for now.

Written by Cendol
Freelance composer

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Five jump-overs of estate planning

on September 20, 2011 · Leave a Comment

It is not a good thought to consider about your untimely death.  However consider the practical aspects of it – where your hard earned money will go, who can raise your children and what they should do about their inheritance.  Bad estate planning can get you in trouble.  There are many jump-overs and you should be aware of them.

Here are five such jump-overs of estate planning

1.    Leaving all your estate to your spouse

Is your estate exceeds one million?  Then this is certainly for you.

Under present law, whatever you leave to your spouse is exempt of the Federal estate tax.  In addition to this, you can leave million to anybody tax free. This number will go up to .5 million in 2009 and will be unlimited for 2010.  The figure can drop back to million in 2011.

Many people think that they should leave all their estate to their spouse.  This is halfway planning.  With this arrangement, there is no tax to your spouse but there’ll be a big hit when the spouse dies.

Let us take an example to explain this.  Suppose you have an estate of million.  If you leave your spouse everything in your will, he/she will pay no tax. Now your spouse has an estate of million. When your spouse dies he/she will inherit million out of which there is exclusion for million. The remaining money is subject to tax which is to be paid by your children.

There is one solution for this.  You should form a bypass trust.  So you’ll leave the amount of your exclusion to a trust for the benefit of your surviving spouse.  Your spouse can get all the income for health, education and maintaining the standard of living out of the income of the estate.  Your spouse can also tap the principal to the extent of five per cent or 00 whichever is greater.

On the death of your spouse the property would go to your children without any estate tax.

By filtering your assets thru a bypass trust, you save your children the tax.  So only if your estate is more than million you should face a federal bill for an estate tax.

2.    Giving your children everything in one shot

Most of the couples make an arrangement under which upon the death of the second spouse the entire estate is left to their children.  So once your children are aged 18, they will get whole assets.  This is a big mistake.  It is recommended that you should put the money in trust and they should get it when they need but their access is spread over a number of years.

So at the age of 18 they can get 5% of the estate, which can be useful for college fees and buying a car.  At the age of 21 they can get 10% which they can use for finishing their education traveling overseas.  At the age of 30 they can get 25 per cent of the estate which can be used for starting a new business.  At the age of 30 they can get 25 per cent of the estate probably for buying a house and for getting married.  And the balance of the estate they should get at the age of 35.

By making this arrangement you are allowing your children to mature and perhaps use the money for the appropriate reasons.

3.    Ignoring the disability provision

Okay, you made a power of attorney and sign it with your spouse.  However what about the disability clause?  If you become disabled or incompetent then laws of many states automatically provide withdrawal of your power of attorney.

The solution is simple –insert a clause saying that the power of attorney shall not be revoked in case of any spouse becoming disabled or incompetent.  And this can be ensured by hiring an attorney who specializes in estate planning.

4.   Ignoring Health Care directives

You should always identify other people to make Health care decisions.  So if you are not able to make that decision of pulling the plug, some family members should be authorized to do that. It is called living will. Remember, this living will is for protecting them and not for protecting you.

Normally such authorization is given to children jointly.  And if the children are under 18, you can include a third party to do this. This is because until then children lack the capacity to make such a decision legally.

5.    Failing to make a couple as Guardian

A very important clause in your will is selection of a person who will raise your kids if you and your spouse die.

Most often people make the mistake of naming one individual as a Guardian.  Suppose you have selected your brother for this work to take care of your young children.  Your brother dies accidentally.  In such a situation the contingent guardian should be the spouse of your brother.  If you do not make this selection of who will be the second guardian, your children may be pulled out of their present residence and they can suffer psychologically for this.  So its advisable to make a couple as Guardian in your will.

Go to a specialized attorney for inserting these special provisions in your will.  After all it is your money and you should ensure that it is going correctly after you.

Written by Chintamani

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