Estate Planning Checklist

How Does Your Checklist Look?

One of the many confidential services offered by Barnabas Foundation at no charge or obligation to you is the opportunity to discuss the spiritual and financial issues related to your Estate Planning. We have extensive experience in helping families to think through how they can best honor God with everything He’s entrusted to them.
For example, through this planning process with Barnabas Foundation, you will discover ways you can support your favorite Christian charities during your lifetime and after your death.
First Wills are usually prepared when there are young children in a family whose needs include passing property to the surviving spouse and naming a Guardian/Trustee to care for and protect children. As children reach maturity, different concerns will emerge about one’s Estate. Wills and Estate Plans that were once adequate must be updated to meet new challenges and circumstances.
No “one-size-fits-all” solution meets the planning needs of every Christian. This Planning Guide provides a convenient way to assess your own situation and plan accordingly. (Use it with your own planning advisors to help meet your goals.)

Do I Have…

• An up-to-date Will or Living Trust? As your planning needs change over the years, your Will should be updated to manage these changes. A Living Trust disposes of property in much the same way as a Will, while providing other benefits. A Living Trust is a simple and flexible way for you to hold and manage your property. It will also allow for others to act on your behalf at any time it may become necessary. If the Trust contains all your property, then the Estate passes free of probate.
• A Durable Power of Attorney? Through this document, you appoint a person to manage your property if you become incapacitated. A Power of Attorney applies to property that you have not transferred into a Trust. Formal guardianships on your behalf are normally made unnecessary by this action.
• A Living Will? Most states now authorize you to make a statement of your desires regarding medical treatment if you become terminally ill. Preferences about the use of “heroic efforts” and artificial life supports are frequently included.
• A Health Care Power of Attorney? This document allows you to appoint a person to be your representative in making medical decisions for you at any time you are unable to make them yourself.