Houston Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorney Blog
Talking
to your adult kids about your finances and how you plan to divvy up your money
after your death may be one of the most important conversations you'll ever
have. It gives you the chance to tell the kids how you want your estate to be
handled. It lets your kids know whether they need to worry about supporting you
in your old age or whether they'll get help paying for their children's college
education. And it sets them straight as to whether they will get a windfall, a
topic that can be a huge disconnect between parents and children.
So, you have committed your
estate plan to writing. It has been signed, witnessed and notarized. Done? Not
so fast. Talking now with your kids and family is the best way to give life to
your estate plans.
The heavy legal work of estate
planning is done in ink and paper, often also in a banker’s ledger. However, the
heart and even much of the practical work is done in conversation with your
loved ones. So how do you start and go about this talk?
This is a difficult subject, but
fortunately it is one for which there is much advice. Consider a recent Kiplinger article titled “The Family Money Talk You Must Have.”
That article gives both pithy
advice and stories to back it up. The key lesson is to stop avoiding the topic,
but to engage it head on. There are many reasons to avoid the family wealth and
estate planning topic. Every family has its own dynamics.
Maybe you do not know how to say
there is an “estate.” After all, you may have kept your financial condition
close to the vest over the years. All the same, what is unknown cannot be
planned, either by you (the one establishing the plan) or by the heirs who will
receive it.
Well, how do you get there and
how does the rest of the conversation go? Good questions to ponder. Remember, the
answers depend almost entirely on you, your family, and the assets to discuss.
For more information about estate planning
in Houston, Texas please visit my website.
Reference: Kiplinger
(November 2013) “The Family Money Talk You Must Have”