At first glance, that remark is crude and insensitive. But it does get our attention. This statement was mentioned at a Leave a Legacy conference I attended a few years ago. Leave a Legacy is a public awareness program to encourage people to leave a legacy gift to their church or favorite charities in their estate plans.

Surveys indicate that about 85 percent of Americans give something to charity during their lifetime, and about 70 percent do so every year. A major portion of this giving goes to religious institutions. But only about 8 percent of people leave something to their church or charity in their will or trust. And when you consider that, according to a survey by the GE Center for Financial Learning, more than 60 percent of Americans do not even have a will, actually less than 3 percent leave anything to charity through their estate plan.

Michigan statistics are a little better, but not much. According to a survey by the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University, about 42 percent of us Michiganians (Michiganders?) have a will and about 14 percent of us provide a bequest to our church or a charity. So, only about 6 percent of us in “Pure Michigan” provide for church or charity in our estate plans. Leave a Legacy, through its public education program, hopes to increase this percentage significantly. It will be a great benefit to all of society if individuals increase charitable giving through their estate plans.

Now, back to that insensitive statement. Catholic teaching encourages us to share with others the many blessings God gives to each of us. We demonstrate this by our weekly offering to our parish. But what happens to our support of the parish when we die? Without a legacy gift, it stops. So, consider this: Assume you contribute $1,000 each year to your parish, about $20 a week. If you leave $20,000 to your parish as a bequest in your will or trust and that fund is invested at 5 percent, your parish will continue to receive $1,000 each year for many years after you are gone. You effectively have continued to give to your parish in spite of your death. When explained like that, “Don’t stop giving just because you die” doesn’t sound so crude.

Obviously, you must have a will or trust to make bequests to the Church or your favorite charity. If you die “intestate,” that is, without a valid will, state law will control the distribution of your property, and that law does not provide for charitable bequests. St. Paul reminds us, “For we brought nothing into the world, just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it” (1 Timothy 6:7). Having an estate plan for the orderly distribution of the gifts God gives us during our lifetime is simply faithful stewardship of those gifts.

Even if you already have a will or trust, you should review these documents periodically to ensure they still meet your family’s estate planning goals and objectives. In making and reviewing your estate planning documents, please give prayerful consideration to “leaving a legacy” to the Church through bequests to your parish, the Archdiocese of Detroit Endowment Foundation, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, or other archdiocesan institutions.

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For more information on estate planning and planned charitable giving, contact Tom Scholler, associate director of the Archdiocese of Detroit’s Department of Development and Stewardship, at (313) 883-8771 or [email protected]. This article is for your information on stewardship, estate planning and charitable giving. It is not intended to be legal, financial or tax advice. You should consult with your attorney, financial planner or tax advisor for the planning of the transactions suggested here. ‘Don’t stop giving just because you die’