Mid-South Planned Giving Seminar

Faith and Estate Planning: Practical Applications

Showing sensitivity to a client’s religious concerns should be an integral component of estate planning. Goals can be achieved by integrating a client’s faith concerns into the drafting of many common legal documents. Addressing the myriad religious, philosophical, cultural and related issues in practice is not only beneficial to those clients for whom this is important, but also can be intellectually rewarding and may lead to a deeper relationship with the client.

Even for non-religious clients, addressing faith considerations may be important if they have a devout family or if they do not want religious considerations to apply. This seminar will provide a practical overview of how practitioners can have discussions with and guide clients in this vital aspect of planning.

Featuring Martin M. Shenkman, CPA, MBA, PFS, AEP (distinguished), JD

Partner with Shenkman Tietz, LLP, a New York and New Jersey-based estate planning law firm

Martin M. Shenkman, CPA, MBA, JD, PFS, AEP (Distinguished) is author of more than 40 books and more than 1,400 articles on estate planning and related topics. He is a frequent lecturer for numerous trade, professional and other organizations. He is active in numerous charitable endeavors. He has practiced estate planning for 35+ years.

See full bio

Event details

Schedule

• Registration 8:30 a.m.
• Presentation 9:00-11:00 a.m.

Cost

• $15 for members of the Planned Giving Council of the Mid-South
• $30 for non-members

Delivery method

Group-live seminar

Presenting organizations

This seminar is presented in partnership with:

Learning Objectives

• Identify the principal touchpoints where religious belief and non‑religion affect estate planning (e.g., client intake, charitable intent, dispositive design, fiduciary selection, dispute resolution), and explain how intra-faith variability and respectful inquiry shape planning choices.
• Apply faith‑sensitive drafting to health‑care instruments—living wills, health‑care proxies/agents, pain management, nutrition/hydration, pregnancy, autopsy/organ donation, and funeral/burial directives—so agents and clinicians can act consistently with the client’s beliefs.
• Draft will and trust provisions that accommodate faith‑specific inheritance norms (e.g., Islamic forced shares, Jewish supplements/conditional obligations), and evaluate how lending/interest restrictions and values‑based investment policy statements interact with fiduciary duties.
• Design a practice workflow that integrates religious considerations across planning (financial planning stewardship, charitable structures, letters/ethical wills), including collaboration with advisors and faith leaders, and document guardrails to reduce conflict.

NASBA sponsor statement

The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.NASBARegistry.org.