Do you have a will? It is a basic question, but one that many people prefer to not answer. We don’t like to think about our will because we don’t like to think about our will because we don’t like to think about life after we are gone.

The sad reality is that as many as 60% of Americans don’t have a valid will. A will is an important way to tell family and charities what is most important to you.

A will simply directs those we leave behind how to divide up what is left. When instructions aren’t given, chaos can ensue. That is when relatives fight with each other and tension enters relationships.

A will can also be a statement of what was important to you. It can be a final way to teach your kids that they were important to you, but so were some ministries that are making a difference in the world.

Contact your attorney to make a will or to add a codicil to your will to include St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. If you don’t have an attorney, we can help you find one. There are options for how your gift will be used by St. Paul’s. It can go to greatest need, be used for a capital project, or it could even begin an endowment to care for a particular ministry at St. Paul’s.

Perhaps you can consider tithing to St. Paul’s through your estate or even adopting your church as an additional child.

One of the easiest ways to make a gift to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church is through life insurance. Simply, you can make the church a full or partial beneficiary of a life insurance policy that you own or intend to take out.

Another way to leave a life insurance gift to St. Paul’s is to make the church the owner of the policy. Then, you can provide a gift to St. Paul’s each year to pay the premium. The annual premium payment will qualify as a gift to the ministry each year and so may be tax deductible. St. Paul’s would then make the annual payment to keep the policy current.

To learn more about life insurance gifts, contact the church office.

Individual Retirement Accounts are often the best gift you can leave to the church through your estate. The reason is that traditional IRAs have tax consequences for your children or other individuals who inherit them. They can take the IRA either as a lump sum or paid out over years, but there are taxes due.

The church gets to avoid the taxes due and therefore can place the entire amount of the IRA into use for ministry.

Giving through an IRA is very simple too. You don’t need an attorney. Simply call your IRA administrator and tell them what you want to do. They will get you the form right away.

Additionally, Congress has made permanent legislation where you can give directly from your IRA to a charity if you are 70.5 or older. Your gift counts towards your required minimum distribution for the year and it does not count as income to you (there is no gift tax credit though).

For help with gifting an IRA, contact the church office.

Are you wanting to make a lasting gift to the church, but you still need income from your money today? A charitable gift annuity may be right for you. Here is how it works.

You transfer an asset to fund a Gift Annuity to a certain level. Then based on your age, you will receive a guaranteed payout for life. A portion of this payout each year will be eligible for a tax deduction and the original gift to fund the gift annuity is partially deductible.

Charitable Gift Annuities are great for people looking to guarantee income and often to increase the income stream off of an asset. It is important to note that once you place an asset into the Gift Annuity that you cannot get it back, but you do get the income each year for life and the income is guaranteed.

Gift annuities can help avoid or significantly reduce capital gains taxes. St. Paul’s will use the ELCA Foundation to manage annuities.

Charitable Gift Annuity Rates can be found at http://acga-web.org/gift-annuity-rates

For more information about Charitable Gift annuities, please contact the church office or return the form below in the offering plate.

For some people, establishing a Charitable Trust can provide great opportunities for themselves, their heirs, and for their church. Charitable Trusts work two ways.

Remainder Trusts:
With a remainder trust, the donor gifts an asset to the trust (often to avoid capital gains taxes), then the donor receives an income for life, or a period of years from the trust. It is also possible to grant your children or grandchildren a period of time to receive that trust income. Following the prescribed time period, the trust assets are then transferred to the church.

People who don’t want their children to inherit a lump sum of money will appreciate this option so that the income is provided to heirs over a period of time.

Lead Trusts: 
These work opposite of remainder trusts. In a lead trust, the charity receives an income stream from the donated assets for a period of years. Following the term of the agreement the asset transfers back to the original donor or to whoever the donor designates.

Both Remainder trusts and Lead trusts require professionals to set them up. St. Paul’s will utilize the ELCA Foundation that have small fees, but a long history of servicing these charitable vehicles.

For more information on Charitable Trusts, contact the church office.