Refunding Excess Missionary Balances

A family in our ward recently had two missionaries return home at the same time. I had not been monitoring the family's payments because I assumed the Church provided some kind of visibility to the family (apparently, they do not). Between both missionaries, the missionary excess balance is around $2.5k. I know that Church procedures require excess balances be transferred to the ward missionary funds account, but in a case like this where the balance is so large, would it be possible to gain an exception and have the excess returned to the family?

I talked with Church support via chat and they told me there is no way to make this happen, even with the large amount. Has anyone had success getting an exception to allow for a refund? Or any other suggestions?

The only other thing I can think to do is tell the family that the ward can hold onto the funds and then apply them to the next missionary from their family (fortunately departing later this year).

Please see General Handbook 34.3.7 - "Contributions Cannot Be Refunded"

Saving it for the next missionary from the family would be (in my opinion) the best choice. The only issue might be having to explain to the stake why you have such a high balance in the meantime.

The only other workaround I'm aware of is to recategorize the excess donations as tithing. There is no requirement that tithing has to be for the same year as earned. Given that you're asking on Dec 31st, I'm not sure how well this will work to change what will soon be the prior year's donations.

But this does raise a question - did the family donate too much, or is this the result of generous donations by the ward? That may influence what the bishop decides.

russellhltn wrote: Tue Dec 31, 2024 1:27 pm But this does raise a question - did the family donate too much, or is this the result of generous donations by the ward? That may influence what the bishop decides.

Just one scenario that could happen: I have a friend who pre-funded his son's entire mission some years ago because he was forced out of a job (and received a large lump sum to hold him over until he found his next job) because he didn't know how his finances would play out. The son came home from the MTC. I think the funds were transferred to the stake to assist other missionaries but I'm not sure. I do know he did not receive a "reimbursement."

You should not recategorize it without talking to the GSD and the stake president first and getting them both to approve it.

This is something that clerks need to take a role in - We just had 2 go out this year and I sat with both families and explained how things work. The first month is normally a goofy payment, some kind of retro-amount, not the normal 400 and explained to them that the last month is also a weirdness, you usually come home, and there is still a last payment that is somewhere south of the 400 - I clearly explained that the church doesn't refund this money, so pre-loading the missionary account is not advisable - and I send them a monthly statement of the balance to ensure they are monthly kept aware of what's going on.

We had a missionary return when I was called again into being a financial clerk this year, and they'd overpayed by about $113 - I just adjusted their last payment to cover the missionary 100% and they did an extra amount of tithing. I feel totally ok with this.

In your case, it's pretty lucky they have another missionary going out this year, that'll work out well...

Clerks - STAY ON TOP of this, nobody explains these things to members until AFTER, they have like 2500 sitting there and some stupid clerk goes... uhhh.. the church says I can't refund it. Let's bless the lives of these families with a few pro-active minuts each month for those that are serving and having short conversations ahead of time.

I have lived by one single adage since becoming an adult in this church, well, my signature is one, but I do have another - I always assume that nobody really knows what they're talking about - it has served me well.

johnshaw wrote: Thu Jan 02, 2025 9:59 am This is something that clerks need to take a role in ..... Let's bless the lives of these families with a few pro-active minutes each month for those that are serving and having short conversations ahead of time.

Following along those lines, it's quite helpful for the Bishop (or a delegated clerk) to have a detailed review of the financial plan with the future-missionary and parents, prior to finalizing the missionary application. Walking through the instructions in GHB 24.3.4 with them, can help set a good starting point for the financial plan. And then as you point out, staying on top of this is required -- even families with multiple missionaries who have previously served, can fall into the trap of unknowingly having excess funds (e.g. we had no idea Aunt Jenny and also the former YW President Sister Johnson, were both each contributing $100 every month to our daughter's mission fund, etc)

And reviewing the referenced section 4.8 in the "Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ", can help families and future-missionaries be better aware of what types of additional expenses might be incurred during a mission that wouldn't be covered by the standard monthly contribution, and how those expenses are separate from the standard missionary allotment. I wouldn't be surprised if a few families contribute extra funds each month with the mistaken idea that their missionary can access that extra money to cover potential unforeseen expenses like bike repairs.

Yeah based on the guidance: The best course of action is to transfer to the Ward Mission Fund. If there is no activity on the account for 90 days the account disappears from LCR. You can call global support, but talking with them they recommend transferring to the Ward Missionary Fund. With that said it does say not to hold excessive funds in the Ward Missionary fund or the stake will have to transer it to CHQ.

So I am in your same shoes, I also let my Stake Clerk know and plan to talk with our bishop on what to do with the other excessive funds in thagt account. Along with that generous members can donate to the ward mission funds as well which can really surprise everyone.

- It cannot be reimbursed
- It cannot goto another ward (goes to the stake and then to CHQ) for these funds.
- It can only be used for another ward missionary
- It can be tranfered to another family missionary as long as they are in the ward when they get assigned.

So keep this in mind. Also if there is a ward/stake re-org then things get really complicated. So new missonary may or may not have those funds depending on what happens in the next year or two. So make sure the family understands it is a best effort. The donations in excess will go to the lords mission regardless.

I send a Mission statement report for each of my familys every Fast Sunday. I print it from either the expense summary filtered to the missionary or the expense details. I have 9 missonaries in the field, 1 MTC, 3 assigned, 2 returned. Also have about 8 or so more perspective missionaries this year. So it can be very busy.

pcardelli wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2025 9:56 am - It cannot goto another ward (goes to the stake and then to CHQ) for these funds.

I'm pretty sure you can transfer directly to the top level ward missionary fund of another ward in the stake. If not, then you can transfer to the stake and they can transfer to another ward in the stake. The guidance in the help topic about applying a donation to another ward just means that you can't donate with an envelope and designate it for a missionary in another ward (like you can online). But that doesn't prohibit a ward transferring funds from their ward missionary fund to the ward missionary fund of another ward in the stake. But usually such transfers are arranged by the stake if one ward is in need and another has excess.

eblood66 wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2025 10:46 amI'm pretty sure you can transfer directly to the top level ward missionary fund of another ward in the stake.

Unless they have changed LCR since I was a ward clerk, this is correct. At that time we had a sizeable amount in the ward fund and received instructions from the Stake President to transfer x amount from our ward to another ward in our stake and y amount to a different ward in our stake. You can certainly transfer to the stake and let them transfer, but you can also do it directly to a ward/branch (within the stake only). The bishop can counsel with the Stake President on the best course of action. The transfer goes to that ward's top-level missionary fund and then they can move it to specific missionaries serving from their ward based on the needs.