Planned Giving

Our planned giving brochure is located at the right.  Click on it or download it for viewing in Adobe Acrobat Reader.  You may consider a planned gift to Fairwood Community United Methodist Church through your estate. This brochure will help you understand how the church can use your gift.  We work closely with the United Methodist Foundation of the Northwest.

Estate Plan

Most people know that it is important to have a will and estate plan--even if your "estate" is very small, consisting only of money in the bank, your home, your car and/or life insurance.

In order to finalize your estate plan, you will need to work with an attorney--one who specializes in wills and estate planning--who can help you formulate your intentions and  make sure that your estate plan is designed to carry out your wishes. Before you meet with your attorney, however, use this checklist so you can get a clear picture of what assets should be included in your estate plan. This list will also help your attorney draft a plan.                       

 What assets do you own?

__cash in savings and checking accounts--list banks and account numbers

__stocks and bonds, mutual funds, money market funds and CDs--list firms and account numbers

__real estate (including vacation property), automobiles, jewelry, artwork and other valuables

__life insurance policies on your life--list face amount, cash value, beneficiaries, name of insurance company and agent

__IRA and other retirement plan assets--list custodian, account numbers and beneficiaries

__interest in a business, partnership interests and money owed to you by other people, etc.

__interest in a trust that was set up by someone else

__Also, what debts and obligations do you owe? Do you have a mortgage on your home or  a loan on your car? Are there credit card or other debts that you owe? Write down the specifics about these obligations: to whom is the debt owed; name, address and number of account; amount of debt outstanding; repayment schedule; etc. How are your assets owned?  Are your assets owned in your own name? Jointly with someone else? Do you live in a community property state where your assets are owned as community property with your spouse? Be sure to include the names and addresses of any co-owners of asse ts on your list. Where are your assets located?

__Where is your real estate located?

__Where do you keep your jewelry?

__Where do you keep your insurance policies and other important documents?

__If you have a safe-deposit box, where is it located? What is the box number? Where do you keep the keys?

 ___What is the value of your assets?

Keep in mind that your estate assets include everything that you own--no matter where these assets are located. It will be important for you to know the value of your assets so you will have an idea of your estate's total value and the value of the assets that you will later transfer to your heirs.