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The Office of Estate Planning Awareness and its Council are dedicated to presenting consistent, current and relevant estate planning information … in a nonthreatening environment and consider this effort a ministry. With this in mind, we help parishes create their own Estate Planning Committees who then plan how to effectively relate – via a step-by-step manual – to their parish, the reasons for taking great care in planning one’s estate. Parishes need not have estate planning professionals on their committee.
The impetus for this effort stems from the realization of: The ever-increasingly complex but vitally important issue of estate planning, The historic results of one’s planning being done inadequately. The frightening statistic that 50-70% of Americans die without a will and the need to be able to – based on Church teaching – impart this critical information in a non-threatening not-for-profit environment.
The basics of the program are simple: A Parish Estate Planning Committee, guided by their pastor, is formed, guided through the use of the manual and becomes the marketing arm of the parish effort. One free hour of consultation with an estate planning professional is made available for any parishioner attending a seminar. Tools have been put in place to evaluate and track seminar results and assure participants that any follow up which occurs will be initiated only by them.
Through thoughtful preparation it is possible to provide adequately for loved ones and create opportunities to provide for charity by minimizing the sometimes massive erosion of assets brought about by not planning one’s affairs.
For information regarding estate planning, workshops you can attend or getting estate planning seminars started in your parish, please contact the Estate Planning Awareness Office at 307-4921 or estateplanning@dioceseoftulsa.org.