Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

Ownership of Church Property

FACTS: A church is privately owened by the pastor. All income from the ministry is in the churches name, and bank account.

Q. If the pastor dies, who would be entitled to the money, the congregation or the pastor's children? Should this be put in a will or notorized statement? Does the law for inheritance take effect if no Will covers this issue?

A. If the money is banked in the Church's name or the Elders/Trustees of the church, if unincorporated, then it belongs to the Church/congregation. There are Laws that assets of address unincorporated associations that you need to read. A Will would only deal with the Pastor's own assets and not anything that belonged to the Church. It wouldn't hurt to have a Will or other written statement reflecting the ownership of the property/money signed by the Pastor. It might eliminate trouble later and prevent hard feelings with his children. If there is nothing in writing and the Bank records list the Pastor as owning the Accts., then intestate sucession would be a concern and could be expensive to determine who gets the money. Play it safe and have the pastor put it in writing.

Re: Church

In order to know what will happen to the church building and the church bank accounts upon the death of the church pastor, you will need to know how the property and bank accounts are titled. If the church is in the pastor's name he may leave it through a will to anybody, subject to some important statutory restrictions. If the church bank accounts are in the name of the church, a non-profit or charitable corporation, the pastor's will probably does not affect this accounts. You would have to look at the corporate bylaws. If you have a specific concern you would like to discuss, please send me an e-mail.

Kelly Henderson