Estate Planning and Religion

Religion can play an important role in estate planning. According to some sources, over ninety-five percent of Americans believe in some type of higher power. A list of six estate planning considerations that are influenced by an individual’s religious beliefs is below:

1. The “tone” of all an individual’s estate planning documents (i.e. funeral arrangement, distributions, medical decisions) should reflect his or her beliefs.
2. If an individual is indifferent to religious issues, specify exactly what his or her wishes are to minimize family strife later on.
3. If an individual wishes to forgo any type of religious ceremony or observance, then it is important for the individual to make a statement specifying the certain rituals to be excluded.
4. It is important to keep in mind that boilerplate distribution provisions may not allow agents and fiduciaries to disburse assets to religious education, charities, and other purposes consistent with an individual’s religious views.
5. A secular will may not reflect a particular religion’s laws of inheritance, so it is important to revise a secular to will to match the inheritance laws of an individual’s religion.
6. An individual should create a personal letter of instruction for trustees, dictating what values are essential for the upbringing of young children.

See Martin M. Shenkman, Religious Estate Planning, Wealth Strategies Journal, Mar. 17, 2011.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (WealthCounsel) for bringing this article to my attention.