Practical and legal affairs that bring the church to life

Charitable bequests to churches, charities, and other public organizations are becoming more common. However, the complicated process of making a will can sometimes cause problems. We asked Nobuyoshi Sai, a lawyer at a Christian NGO who works on charitable bequests, about the issue.

I want to donate part of my estate

Mr. Sai graduated from Tohoku University with a doctorate in law. His areas of practice include general civil law (inheritance, wills, corporate law, and Christian NGO law), with a particular focus on the legal relationship between radiation exposure and cancer in the atomic bomb litigation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He is currently based in Tokyo.

Sai has had a series of people from churches asking him for help with donating a portion of their estate to the church. “Often the person lives alone and is estranged from relatives. In some cases, relatives also decline to receive the inheritance because they don’t want the hassle. On the other hand, the person feels they have been blessed by the church and they are helped by people giving them rides to church and to the hospital.”

In 2022, the amount of unclaimed property without heirs reached a record 76.8 billion yen nationwide. The number has doubled in the past nine years. Property without an heir is transferred to the national treasury. The increases in the number of people who are unmarried, childless, and living alone are cited as reasons for this trend. Against this backdrop, interest in charitable bequests has increased due to heightened awareness of end-of-life planning.

But charitable bequests have not spread among Christian organizations. Sai has discussed this with the staff of Hunger Zero, a Christian NGO he supports as a board member. As a result, the organization began publicizing their support for charitable bequests. Now, he is being consulted by a wide variety of organizations.

It is important to follow the person’s wishes

A will is required for any charitable bequests. There are different types of wills including those written by the person themselves and those drawn up by a notary public. “We recommend a notarized will,” Sai said.

“Above all, it is important to follow the wishes of the donor,” Sai emphasizes. “It is difficult for pastors to talk to church members about inheritance issues, so it might help if churches could invite lecturers to hold seminars on the subject,” he said.

From Christian Shimbun, August 21, 2024
Translated by David McIntyre using DeepL