Friday, October 13, 2017

Taking the Right Steps to Establish a Retirement Plan

Early planning can avoid IRS trouble—and provide well when retirement comes.

Lisa Runquist, Attorney

As a lawyer who advises churches on a variety of issues, I've had many difficult conversations with church leaders. One of the most difficult discussions, however, involves telling a church and its pastor that it's too late to fund the pastor's retirement.

Far too many pastors reach retirement age and can't consider retiring—even if they desire to—because they do not have enough in retirement savings. Alternatively, a church board may want a change in leadership, but faces resistance from a longtime pastor who is unwilling to step down because of the financial uncertainties he or she will face. Then there is the heartbreaking situation in which a pastor dies, leaving no viable means of financial support behind for the surviving spouse.

These problems unfortunately arise more often at churches across the nation than they should. Even more concerning: when a problem ...

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Monday, June 12, 2017

What Pastors Need to Know About Mental Health, Ministry, and Liability

How both legal experts and ministry leaders approach mental health issues in the church. 
 

Mental health is not often a public topic of conversation—or even a private one. That avoidance appears to be just as prevalent, if not more so, in church settings. In recent years, however, a plethora of research has shown that mental health issues are more common than one might think, cutting across gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, it’s estimated that almost one in five Americans suffer from some form of mental illness each year.
As churches become increasingly aware of the widespread and serious nature of mental illness, church leaders may wonder how they should engage mental health ministry in the church—and what legal risks they may face in doing so.
The most important mental health case to date
Lisa Runquist, an attorney specializing in nonprofit law, has researched the issue of liability for churches that have chosen to counsel individuals with mental health issues.
For Runquist, the most important court case regarding churches and counseling came in 1988 when a lawsuit—Nally v. Grace Community Church of the Valley—was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court of California. An individual, Kenneth Nally, had sought help from counseling through Grace Community Church of the Valley and later committed suicide. Nally’s parents then brought a wrongful death action lawsuit against the church and four church pastors, alleging “clergyman malpractice” (negligence in failing to prevent the suicide).
Runquist explains the verdict and its importance:
To read the rest of this article, visit Church Law & Tax.