Estate Planning is not a popular topic and not unsurprisingly. After all thinking about estate planning forces people to reflect on their mortality. For Christians this should be easy, as we know our eternal destiny, but few still plan how they will bequeath the assets that God has bestowed on them throughout their life. It is our final act of stewardship and as a result requires considerable thought and prayer. Estate Planning is as much a mindset as other financial issues, consider this logic that Christians should apply:
When the world talks about estate planning they naturally ask:
“Who are you going to leave your money to?”
Psalm 24 offers a different perspective:
“The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.”
Psalm 24:1
All that we have is God’s, therefore the more appropriate question for Christians is:
“Who are you going to leave God’s money to?”
Wills
A will is a written legal declaration by which a person, called a testator, names one or more persons to manage his or her estate (an executor) and provides for the distribution of his property at death to named persons (beneficiaries).
When making a will people often overlook some key considerations such as:
• Validity – it needs to be signed and witnessed by two people who are not beneficiaries
• Divorce – they become null and void upon divorce
• Bequests – ignore the need for specific bequests of family heirlooms (jewellery, artwork)
• Special Circumstances – such as disabled children who may require the protection of a testamentary trust
Whose Money is it?
When thinking about estate planning, we need to remember that we are leaving God’s money behind, not ours. Therefore conceptually this challenges us to think differently about how we treat this final act of stewardship. It raises questions like:
➢ Should you give money to your kids or to the church, para-church? How much should go to each party?
➢ Are your kids going to be good stewards with God’s money? Will they have eternity in mind? Or will it just enhance their lifestyle? Will it ruin them by making them lazy?
➢ Are you better off giving most of the money away before you die?
Here is the stark reality:
“Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.”
Ecclesiastes 5:15
When oil magnate, John D. Rockefeller died, they asked his accountant ‘how much did he leave behind?’ – The accountant’s answer: ‘everything’. So true.
All of us will leave 100% of our assets behind, there is no choice in the matter, no exceptions. However when it comes to giving, it is 100% a voluntary act. Surely therefore the challenge is to decide what to do with it before we are forced to leave it behind into the hands of others.