Leave a Legacy

A Will can help you reduce probate hassles and costs, avoid certain taxes, and decrease other administrative expenses – freeing up more resources to your heirs and charitable work.

Without a Will, a court decides how to distribute your estate. On the other hand, when you name your own representative in your Will, you decide who will distribute the money and things entrusted to you.

If you have minor children, a Will allows you to name the guardian of your children and a Trustee of the assets to provide for the children. If a court is left to make these decisions for you, your spiritual values may be disregarded.

Your Will can be powerful a testimony to family and friends. Including your extended “family” in your Will – namely your church and favorite charities – is a wonderful way to express your values for generations to come.

A charitable trust allows you to bless a ministry you care about while still providing an income for you or your heirs. With a charitable lead trust, money is paid first to the ministry of your choice for a specified amount of time. Then at the end of the trust period, the balance goes to a designated beneficiary. A charitable remainder trust reverses that order, paying your heir first.

Designating a ministry as the beneficiary of your retirement account offers a number of tax advantages. Unlike individual beneficiaries, ministries are not required to pay income tax on withdrawals from these accounts, plus the sum you give will not be included in your adjusted gross income.

Insurance is a way to make a substantial future gift at a level that might not be possible with a cash gift. By naming Metropolitan Ministries as the owner and beneficiary to receive the proceeds of an existing life insurance policy, you will receive a tax deduction for approximately the cash surrender value, thereby reducing your tax liability in the year of the gift. An alternative is to simply add Metropolitan Ministries as a revocable beneficiary. This way you retain the right to change this designation, but you do not receive an income tax deduction.

Properties that can be given to us include personal residences, vacation homes, commercial property or land. Many people like to give gifts of real estate because the inherent value of the property far exceeds that of any other single asset. It’s very popular because even individuals with modest estates typically own real estate.

POD Transfers are a way of designating beneficiaries to receive your assets automatically at the time of your death, without having to go through probate court. They also allow you to specify the percentage of assets each person or entity will receive.